“Family Asset Trusts” for Your Children

When it comes to Estate Planning, most of us think of the classic document that we’ve always heard references to—the Will.  Wiley Law, LLC is proud to introduce a better way to transfer money and other assets to your children that will truly set them up to thrive once you’re gone. 

Why Wills Leave Your Children Exposed

Wills, and even certain Trusts that call for “outright” distributions, are deficient when it comes to protecting assets for your children.  “Everything will go equally to my children,” without any associated trust language, results in lump sum inheritances without any legal protections or direction.  Examples:

• A young boy’s parents die in a car accident when he’s 11. On his 18th birthday, everything that he inherited from them will become available for him to spend as he pleases. His parents could not have expected he would be addicted to drugs and have a negative circle of friends.

• A 53-year old man inherits from his mother. His wife then files for divorce. The entire inheritance, which was deposited into a joint checking account, is available in the divorce proceedings. The ex husband just effectively became one of your beneficiaries!

These examples illustrate that we are doing our children a horrible disservice if we fail to trust-protect money for them using our Family Asset Trusts.

Introduction to Our “Family Asset Trusts”

The Family Asset Trust is a “continuing lifetime trust” for your beneficiaries, built into your Revocable Living Trust.    These Trusts have broad protection against Divorce, Lawsuits and Creditors!  This is possible because your children technically don’t “own” the money residing in these Trusts—the Trusts do.  If we don’t own something, it can’t be taken from us.  You can and are encouraged to leave custom language, so that the exact purposes for which you’d want them (or not want them) to spend their money is clearly communicated.