Nashville Trusts Lawyer

Nashville Trusts Attorney

Trusts are an incredibly useful tool in estate planning. These legal entities help your estate avoid or limit its time in probate court, providing your loved ones with several benefits, including saving time and money. Trusts also have financial and personal benefits for you during your lifetime and allow you more control over asset distribution after death. If you are unsure whether a trust is beneficial for your estate planning goals, a skilled Nashville trusts lawyer can help you.

A trust can allow you to distribute your assets and protect your legacy. Establishing a trust is an investment and can be complex, but it can provide many protections and additional benefits that do not exist with only a simple will. Finding the right legal support can help you create a strong and valid trust or trusts, protecting the interests of your loved ones and yourself.

Planning Your Comprehensive Estate Goals with an Experienced Attorney

Skilled and detail-oriented legal support is crucial for creating a trust. If a trust is unenforceable or unclear, then the time and expense that went into creating it will not matter, and the estate may end up in probate court. Experienced legal representation can help you establish a valid and funded trust. There are many types of trusts which can support your beneficiaries and their unique needs.

Attorney Shanone Emmack has nearly a decade of legal experience, including years of practical experience drafting estate plans and trusts. You can work with her to determine your estate planning goals and what tools can uphold those goals. She helps you preserve and protect your estate, providing for your family’s future. Creating a trust and ensuring it fits with the rest of your estate plan can be complex, but effective legal support can make it straightforward and personalized to your unique needs.

Understanding A Trust

A trust is an entity that can hold certain assets in your estate in the independent legal ownership of the trust and its trustee. When you die, the assets never pass to the jurisdiction of the state; instead, they pass to the trustee or successor trustee. This means that the assets do not go through probate court. Like a will, a trust allows you to name a trustee to administer your estate and list your intentions for the individuals and causes that you want to benefit from assets in your estate.

Depending on the type of trust you create, you may name yourself as the trustee during your lifetime, or you may need to name another trusted individual as the trustee. When you are the trustee, you name a successor trustee who becomes the trustee upon your death. The trustee is then responsible for the assets held in the trust and has a fiduciary duty to the beneficiaries of the trust. The trustee manages the assets in the trust based on the wishes of you, the grantor or trustor.

As you craft your estate plan, it can include one or several trusts. These trusts may each have one or more beneficiaries and have other specific clauses spending on the needs of the assets they hold or their beneficiaries.

What Is the Difference Between a Will Vs. a Trust in Tennessee?

The main difference between a will and a trust in Tennessee is that a will is a public document, while a trust is an independent legal entity. Because of this, assets that are listed in a will for distribution pass through probate court. Assets placed into the ownership of a trust do not. Beneficiaries do not have to wait for the process of probate to be complete before benefiting from their inheritance, and the assets and their distribution remain private.

A will can list certain wishes that a trust cannot, including appointing a guardian for minor children. Often, people use wills and trusts together to ensure that assets they do not place into a trust before their death are managed properly. A will may include instructions to place those remaining assets into a trust. An attorney can help you determine how to integrate each aspect of your estate plan into a cohesive plan for your estate and loved ones.

What Is the Difference Between a Revocable and Irrevocable Trust in Tennessee?

The main difference between a revocable and irrevocable trust is the ease in which you are able to modify it as the grantor. The two broad categories of trusts in Tennessee are a revocable and irrevocable trust. Although there are many different specific trust types for unique situations, each trust is either revocable or irrevocable.

1. Revocable trusts, also called living trusts, can be modified whenever you wish. You can also revoke the trust at any time. In this type of trust, you can name yourself the trustee, which allows you to retain control over the assets in the trust during your lifetime.

   By naming a successor trustee, you still keep the assets from entering probate. However, the assets in a revocable trust can be claimed by valid creditor claims, and the contents are not exempt from certain state and federal taxes.

2. Irrevocable trusts cannot be as easily modified but have some additional financial benefits. These trusts can only be modified if specific requirements are met and you do not name yourself as the trustee of the trust. You have much less control over the assets in an irrevocable trust once it is created. However, the assets in this trust are better protected against creditors and taxes.

All trusts are either irrevocable or revocable, but there are many different applications of these trusts which have their own names. This includes:

• Special needs trusts
• Asset protection trusts
• Life insurance trusts
• Charitable trusts
• Constructive trusts
• Spendthrift trusts
• Testamentary trusts
• Credit shelter trusts
• Tax bypass trusts

For example, a special needs trust can be created as either a revocable or irrevocable trust to hold assets for a disabled loved one. Beneficiaries with disabilities may rely on federal benefits for their financial support, which requires them to have limited assets in order to receive those benefits. Providing them with an inheritance without proper estate planning can jeopardize their ability to keep their benefits.

A special needs trust allows them to benefit from your estate while keeping the assets under the control of a trustee. This keeps the assets from being counted against your loved one’s benefits. It’s important to choose a trustee carefully in these situations to ensure a disabled beneficiary has access to their inheritance when they need it.

Different forms of trusts can serve many unique needs of complex assets or specific beneficiaries. A skilled trusts attorney can help you determine what trust can support your goals.

The Benefits of a Trust

Trusts have many benefits in comprehensive estate planning. This includes:

1. Saving Time and Cost: Creating and funding a trust is a big investment, but it can save your loved ones a lot of money. Probate is a costly process, and trusts can bypass probate court entirely. Because irrevocable trusts can avoid certain taxes and creditor claims, this also allows your loved ones to recover more benefits from their inheritance. Distributing assets through a trust is also immediate, and beneficiaries do not have to wait for probate to conclude to receive their inheritance.
2. Control Over Distribution: In a trust, you can be very specific about when and how the assets are distributed to beneficiaries. In a will, you can simply name the beneficiaries who will receive those assets upon the completion of probate. If the beneficiary is a minor, then the court will appoint someone to hold those assets for the beneficiary.
   A trust can hold those assets for longer and is kept by a trustee who has a fiduciary duty to the beneficiaries. You can release portions of the inheritance over time or allow a beneficiary to inherit when they turn a certain age.
3. Privacy: By staying out of probate court, the entire process is much more private. A will is a public document, and the probate process is public. This means your assets and the beneficiaries to which they are distributed are public records.

An attorney can walk you through the unique benefits of creating a trust in your situation, and help you draft it properly.

The Drawbacks of a Trust

A trust is complex to create, and can be expensive to establish. Creating a trust without assets, failing to properly manage the trust, or otherwise improperly establishing it, can result in lost time and money without any benefits. It’s important to talk through the benefits and drawbacks with an Nashville trust attorney to determine if a trust is appropriate for your estate plan.

Finding the Right Estate Planning Tools for Your Needs

If you are hoping to plan for your estate’s preservation and your loved one’s support in Nashville, it’s important that you work with the right legal support. Emmack Probate and Estate Law Group can guide you through your options, including the types of trusts that can protect your estate. They have helped many individuals and families plan for the needs of their estate and beneficiaries, determining what estate planning documents and trusts fulfill their needs.

Creating a trust can give you certainty in the future and management of your estate, giving you peace of mind about the financial support of your loved ones. Attorney Shanone Emmack can draft a very clear and comprehensive trust that supports your estate plan. She provides compassionate and individualized legal care that guides you through these complex topics. Contact Emmack Probate and Estate Law Group today to learn how they can help.