Trusts Attorney in Chicago, Illinois

When Do I Need a Trust?

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I could say that everyone needs a trust

but that would be a really generic

answer so for most folks the most

important things to look at to determine

whether you need a trust are do you have

a blended family so do you have

stepchildren or are you coming into the

into a marriage with children and you’re

going to have children with with your

new spouse another factor that people

take into account about whether they

need estate planning or not is whether

they have a loved one or a family member

with with a disability such as being on

the autism spectrum or having Down

syndrome or having a physical disability

that means that they need supportive

living care for themselves really trusts

are fantastic vehicles for anyone who

wants to Future proof their life savings

or their home there’s two steps to

estate planning first someone typically

the life cycle is someone gets a

financial advisor and that financial

advisor will help them to start the

process of accruing and Building Wealth

then we as estate planners can help that

person to Future proof that well future

proof that wealth to keep it with them

and with their loved ones sometimes we

have clients who come in who have

younger children maybe they’re in their

teens or maybe they’re in their early

20s and these are children who are

likely to get married in the future

maybe they want to go to grad school in

the future so our clients want to make

sure that the inheritance that they’re

leaving their children doesn’t get split

up between divorcing spouses so half of

the child’s inheritance in other words

wouldn’t go to their divorcing spouse or

all of their inheritance wouldn’t go to

student loan debt so in that way we

really help our clients to make sure

that through a trust the money that

they’ve spent a life building stays with

them and the people that they wanted to

go to

Chicago, IL estate planning & probate attorney SJ Chapman talks about when someone needs a trust. She explains that a generic answer would be to say that everyone needs a trust, but that’s not necessarily true. For most people, the key factors to consider when deciding whether to create a trust are if they have a blended family with stepchildren or if they have a loved one with a disability who needs supportive care. Trusts are a great way to future-proof assets, such as life savings and homes, for individuals and their loved ones. As estate planners, we help clients protect their assets and ensure that their children’s inheritance is not jeopardized by divorce or student loan debt. For instance, if clients have younger children who may get married or go to grad school, we can set up trusts to ensure that their inheritance stays with them and the intended beneficiaries.

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