Often, prospective clients of Beck, Lenox & Stolzer Estate Planning and Elder Law, LLC, LLC, will inquire as to what is a property trust? Besides their primary residence, they have the family farmhouse with land or a vacation home that they want to protect. Yahoo Finance’s article “What Is a Property Trust and Who Needs One?” says that there technically isn’t a specific type of trust known as a “property trust.”
Any trust can be filled with a variety of assets, including property and real estate.
Trusts are most often used by people who are planning their estates and want to make certain their financial legacy is carried out to their wishes.
Know that a trust doesn’t necessarily protect your assets from estate taxes. Therefore, if the estate is valued above the state and or federal threshold, the applicable taxes will be assessed, even if everything you own is in a trust.
Nonetheless, there are some good reasons to consider creating a trust for the purpose of storing property.
First, it makes it easier to make sure your wishes are followed after you die, since you appoint a trustee to manage the trust after you die. You can state exactly who should get various physical items. In addition, property trusts make it easier for your family after you’ve died. Property in a trust will allow such property to avoid probate. That means your family will spend less time dealing with the court, save court and attorney fees, and receive any inheritance more quickly.
Not everyone needs a trust. Those with fewer assets might not. However, if you have very specific ideas as to what you want done with your assets or if you have a particularly large and complex estate, a trust may be a good idea. Sit down with an experienced estate planning attorney like the ones at Beck, Lenox & Stolzer to discuss your trust needs.
What is a property trust? While there is no trust technically known by that name, all trusts can be “property” trusts if they are used to house the ownership of property.
There are revocable trusts, which can be modified and terminated, along with irrevocable trusts, which are permanent. Click on the link here to read about typical irrevocable trusts that Beck, Lenox & Stolzer designs for its clients, including some that our clients describe as a property trust. https://beckelderlaw.com/estate-planning/wills-and-trusts/
Reference: Yahoo Finance (Sep. 10, 2021) “What Is a Property Trust and Who Needs One?”
