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Establishing A Trust In Louisiana

A trust can be an excellent estate planning tool for achieving specific goals. For example, a trust can be used to hold assets that you want to keep out of the probate process. A trust can also be used to specify how and when your assets should be distributed to beneficiaries.

The attorneys of Ballay, Braud & Colon, PLC, have extensive experience in creating multiple kinds of trusts for clients in the New Orleans area. We can advise on which type of trust would be best for your specific situation.

For a confidential consultation with an experienced estate planning lawyer, contact our offices in Belle Chasse today.

Your Trust Options

Every family is different, and every estate planner has goals that are specific to his or her family and financial interests. Depending on the circumstances, different kinds of trusts can be used to achieve those goals.

Trusts generally fall into two categories:

  • Living trust — also known as an inter vivos trust — which is set up during your lifetime
  • Testamentary trust, which is set up in the will and which goes into effect after your death

Living trusts are further categorized as revocable or irrevocable. A revocable living trust allows you to retain control of the assets in the trust, and you can change or revoke the terms of the trust at any point. With an irrevocable living trust, you do not have control over the assets, and you are not allowed to change the terms of the trust without the beneficiary’s consent. However, the appreciated assets in an irrevocable trust are typically not subject to the federal estate tax.

Other types of trusts include:

  • Special needs trust, which allows you to provide for a loved one with special needs while ensuring that your loved one does not lose any government disability benefits.
  • Spendthrift trust, which gives the trustee — not the beneficiary — the authority to control how the funds are spent for the benefit of the beneficiary. This kind of trust can also protect the funds from the beneficiary’s creditors.
  • Charitable trust, which can be used to benefit a charity or the public, and to avoid estate and gift taxes.
  • Generation-skipping trust, which allows you to transfer money to beneficiaries — usually grandchildren — who are at least two generations younger than you are.

Contact Ballay, Braud & Colon, PLC

To explore your full range of trust options, contact an estate planning attorney at our firm in Belle Chasse. We can be reached locally at 504-266-0368 or toll free at 800-455-5204. Our firm advises and represents clients throughout the Louisiana parishes of Plaquemines, Jefferson and Orleans.