Today, more than ever before, you are a target for liens, lawsuits and seizures.  But the dangers to your personal assets can strike from any direction.  Lawsuits are only one danger.  You may suddenly be hit by a huge tax deficiency or simply run up more debts than you can afford due to an unexpected job layoff or other financial emergency beyond your control.

It's an unpleasant thought that a sudden lawsuit or financial reversal can cause you to lose your home, life savings, and other valuable assets including sever emotional problems with your loved ones.

Yet, the realities are that it happens every day.  Thousands of families and individuals fail to protect their assets, or plan for possible financial difficulties and find themselves wiped out, often with little warning.

Fortunately, through timely and decisive action, you can fully protect your property against practically any legal or financial threat.

Deploying your assets to provide maximum protection from creditors is neither immoral nor unlawful.  You have an obligation to yourself and your family to protect and preserve what you have worked so hard to accumulate.
 
 

A penalty for dying: Every day heirs lose huge amounts of heir inheritances to probate costs and death taxes.
 

With only a will up to 70% of your estate can disappear in paying lawyers' fees, death taxes, estate taxes, probate court costs, etc.
 

These harsh realities should lead you to ask how you can lawfully minimize the possibility of losing your home, retirement pension, savings or other valuable assets to credit claims, and avoid expensive probate costs for your loved ones.
 
 

There are means that can provide peace of mind, security, and privacy to your financial affairs, and that can provide continuing benefits to your heirs for many generations.  A Trust or a combination of trusts can provide  the answers/

Trusts arrived, from Europe, in America with the colonists.  The first Trust of record was drafted by the famous attorney and patriot, Patrick Henry, in 1765, 24 years before the adoption of the Constitution.  This Trust is still in operation today, over 200 years later.

Another example of a trust used for a family's estate is that of the Joseph Kennedy family.  Joseph Kennedy, father of the late President John F. Kennedy, originally established a Trust to own the famous Chicago Merchandise Mart.

The Kennedy family is known to maintain several other Trusts for tax shelter purposes as well.  One such trust was reported in the March 22, 1947 issue of the Chicago Tribune with the caption, "Kennedy Divides Merchandise Mart".

This was a trust agreement in which Kennedy's wife, Rose F. Kennedy, and a long-time friend and associate, John L. Ford, joined as trustees of the trust and helped materially in distributing ownership in the thirty million dollar Chicago Merchandise Mart among members of the Kennedy family.

The Rockefeller family has used various kinds of trusts as a means to maximizing privacy.  Before his death in 1937, John D. Rockefeller tucked much of his fortune into about 70 trusts for his descendants.

These Trusts place the funds beyond the reach of the high cost of probate and inheritance tax.

In 1966 Ronald Reagan established a trust that has enabled him to receive sizable tax advantages.  In some years since it was established, Mr. Reagan paid no taxes at all, while maintaining a magnificent living standard.

These are only a few of the many thousands of family estates preserved generation after generation through the use of Trusts.

You, too, can take advantage of the same opportunities for you and your family.

Under present day law, all property owned by a deceased, including property in which an incidence of ownership was held at the time of death, must enter into the probate system before any property can pass to the heirs.  Did you know that if you own property in your name in other states that your will must also be probated in each such state before it can be passed on to your heirs.  Having each property in a separate trust can solve that problem and save your loved ones potentially thousands of dollars.

If you suddenly discover that you are the beneficiary of an estate, don't be too fast to run out and spend your inheritance.  It can take years for rightful heirs to collect their legacies.

There is no such thing as a fast trip through the probate system.  No matter how efficient the executor and attorney are in gathering the assets, paying the debts and taxes, and finally making the disbursements, there are bound to be delays.

Creditors have from four months to a year, depending on state law, to present a claim.  Then the government agencies step in to collect their share.  Within nine months of the date of death, the executor must file federal estate tax forms.  But the IRS can take a year or more to audit the return, and many times, months are required to satisfy the state taxing agency.

WHAT YOU GET

1. WORK SHEET IN PREPARATION OF ESTABLISHING YOUR TRUST

2. TRUST AGREEMENT - Use it over and over to establish as many trusts as you may
need.

3. BILL OF SALE -To be used in placing personal property in your trust

     VARIOUS DEED  FORMS.

4. GENERAL WARRANTY DEED -Useful for placing real estate into your trust or
deeding the property out of the trust.

5. QUIT CLAIM DEED - Also useful for placing real estate into your trust or
deeding property out of the trust.

6. WARRANTY DEED - Same as above.

7. PURCHASER'S AGREEMENT - Used to sell trust owned property on an
installment basis.

8. PROMISSORY NOTE - Used in conjunction with the purchaser’s
agreement to define the amount of payments, interest, payment dates, and
other items.

9. TRUST PARTICIPATION CERTIFICATE - Used to provide the
beneficiaries with evidence of their percentage of interest in the trust.

10. RESIGNATION OF TRUSTEE FORM- Useful for documenting the
resignation of a trustee.

11. ACCEPTANCE OF APPOINTMENT - Useful for new trustee to accept
appointment.

Trust questions and answers

CLICK HERE TO ORDER - By mail

© Copyright 2012 - Tax Research Foundation - All Rights Reserved