Aim toward a partnership with your attorney when creating a trust.
Trusts can be quite complicated. And, your attorney will need your help in gathering all the information required and if that does not happen there can be problems as Barron's Penta Daily discusses in "Five Killer Mistakes Trust Lawyers Make."
Common mistakes include:
- Inheritance Planning – An attorney can make sure all of your current assets are planned for, but if you are expecting to receive a large inheritance in the future, then your attorney needs to know about that so it can be planned for as well.
- Multiple Attorneys – If you have different attorneys for different estate planning documents, then it is more likely that there will be contradictions in those documents. That can be expensive to sort out.
- Multiple Beneficiaries – It should not be assumed that one trust will work for everyone you wish to name as a beneficiary. Treat them as uniquely as circumstances require.
- Decanting – Attorneys and clients need to discuss whether the client wants trustees and beneficiaries to be able to modify the terms of the trust at a later date, to include "forum shopping" when it comes to finding more favorable state laws.
- Trust Termination – It is not always a good idea to create a trust that terminates at a specific time no matter what happens.
An estate planning attorney can guide you through the process of creating a trust but does need your assistance.
Reference: Barron's Penta Daily (June 18, 2016) "Five Killer Mistakes Trust Lawyers Make"
