ELDER LAW EVANSVILLE
Asset Protection Trust
The revocable living trust is a very useful and popular estate planning tool, recommended by tens of thousands of attorneys across the U.S. and used as the central estate planning document by millions of Americans. The primary benefit of the revocable living trust is that assets properly funded into such a trust are protected from the expenses and complexities of probate. However, what most Americans don’t realize is that assets in a revocable living trust are NOT protected from lawsuits or from the catastrophic expenses associated with nursing home long-term care.
Even though the Asset Protection Living Trust is irrevocable, you retain a high degree of control over your trust assets because:
- You can be the trustee if desired;
- You have the right to receive all of the trust income;
- You have the right to live in and use your real estate;
- You have the right to change trustees and beneficiaries.
Additionally, as is the case with all non-charitable irrevocable trusts, the Asset Protection Living Trust can be modified, or even terminated, upon the agreement of all “interested parties” — which are typically the trust creator, the trustee, and all trust beneficiaries
