The traditional estate planning process has focused exclusively on passing assets downstream to beneficiaries (i.e., to children and grandchildren), often ignoring a potential inheritance from parents or other family members. However, Americans are living longer and longer and, as you may know, up to $41 trillion is scheduled to change hands in the coming decades. Most of these assets will be transferred in a manner that it is not protected from the claims of creditors or former spouses.

 

The laws of almost every state, including ours, prohibit so-called “self-settled trusts” – an irrevocable trust you establish yourself for your benefit, yet which purports to protect the trust assets from creditors. Therefore, once you receive an inheritance in the typical manner it is too late; you cannot protect these assets yourself. You can, however, protect the inheritance by creating an Inheritor’s Trust that will be the recipient of the inherited assets. An Inheritor’s Trust legally protects these assets, yet allows you to access them as necessary. It also removes these assets and their growth from your estate so that they will not be subject to estate tax upon your death.