Irrevocable Trusts

A trust is a legal arrangement that gives you the freedom to determine where to allocate your assets upon your passing. A trust can also help protect your assets from long-term care costs, can help you avoid hefty estate taxes, and can keep more of your hard-earned assets in the hands of your loved ones.

The elder law attorneys at Ettinger Law Firm can assist you in establishing an irrevocable trust. This estate planning tool can help protect your family's inheritance from long-term care expenses and taxes.

What Is an Irrevocable Living Trust?

In general, there are two types of trusts — revocable and irrevocable. For both, the creator of the trust, called the grantor, designates assets to transfer to the beneficiaries, those who will benefit from the trust. In the irrevocable trust they must also choose someone else as a trustee who will manage and oversee the irrevocable trust. A knowledgeable professional may be a good choice where no family member is capable.

The main difference between revocable and irrevocable trusts is that a revocable trust can be amended by the grantor during the grantor's lifetime. The grantor could change the terms of its revocable trust every week if desired. Irrevocable trusts, however, are generally more permanent. They are harder to edit than revocable trusts, but they can still be changed.

A revocable trust is more like a will substitute, allowing beneficiaries to avoid probate, the lengthy legal process that is often necessary to settle a person's affairs after death. An irrevocable trust can also be used to reduce the value of a person's estate. By removing taxable assets from your control and name and placing them in the trust, you help protect them from estate taxes, court intervention, creditor claims and other outside influences.

An irrevocable trust represents firm protection in the event of any crisis. Yet many of our clients are nervous over the term irrevocable. In New York, you can modify an irrevocable trust as long as all parties named in the trust agree to the changes — most often, you and your immediate family.

Common Types of Irrevocable Living Trusts

At Ettinger Law Firm, our focus on estate planning gives us unique insight into the different irrevocable trusts available to protect your and your family's needs. Let's discuss a couple of irrevocable trusts we may recommend.

Irrevocable Medicaid Asset Protection Trust (MAPT)

An irrevocable Medicaid Asset Protection Trust (MAPT) is an excellent way to protect your assets from long-term care costs. The purpose of the MAPT is to protect assets in trust, but retain the income, and allow you to qualify for Medicaid. New York's Medicaid has a five-year look-back period, which looks to financial transfers made within five years of applying for Medicaid. For this reason, it is important to set up a MAPT at least five years before you intend to apply for Medicaid for nursing home care. For home care, also known as “Community Based Care”, there is no look-back – you can put your assets in the trust today and qualify for Medicaid the very next month.

If you ever require long-term care, the MAPT allows the trustee to handle the assets rather than a court-appointed guardian who may or may not have your family's best interests in mind.

Irrevocable Life Insurance Trust (ILIT)

For clients with taxable estates, estate taxes often amount to up to 40% of their life insurance proceeds. An Irrevocable Life Insurance Trust (ILIT) has proven to be a highly effective method of avoiding estate taxes without encountering problems related to transferring ownership of their life insurance policy to their children or other heirs.

By having the policy purchased and held in an ILIT, your loved ones can receive the full benefit of the insurance policy without worrying about losing a majority of it to taxes. It's a smart way to ensure that the money you set aside for your family will actually go to them.

Why Choose the Elder Law Attorneys at Ettinger Law Firm

In all situations, we do what’s best for our clients. We work with you to ensure your assets get where you want them to go upon your passing with the least amount of legal proceedings or taxes possible. You don't have to understand technical estate planning to work with our team. Ettinger Law Firm was built on a foundation of collaboration with our clients, helping everyday people understand the ins and outs of legal jargon that impacts their final wishes.

Contact Us for a Free Consultation

If you're concerned that taxes or long-term care could impact your loved ones' inheritance, turn to the team at Ettinger Law Firm. We will walk you through the benefits of irrevocable trusts and help you find an option that gives you and your family peace of mind. Contact us online or call 1-800-500-2525 to schedule a free consultation with one of our experienced attorneys.