Longmont Trust Planning Lawyer

Need an attorney outside of Longmont? We serve all of Colorado including Loveland, La Junta, and Wray. Contact us to schedule a call today.

A Longmont trust planning lawyer can help parents create trusts that protect their children’s financial future and ensure assets are managed properly for the next generation. One of the best ways to do this is by setting up a trust for your children. This trust is a way of ensuring their future stays protected, and they don’t end up without the means to support themselves financially once you pass away. Creating a trust for your child may involve a lot of work, but the benefits greatly outweigh whatever inconvenience you are likely to face.

The Longmont trust planning attorneys at Colorado Estate Planning Law Center have been helping parents set up trusts for their children for decades. We want to help you pass on your hard-earned wealth to future generations. Call our office at (303) 420-2863 or contact us online to set up a free initial interview.

How to Set Up a Trust for Your Child

While our Longmont trust planning lawyer can help you every step of the way, it’s essential for you to understand some of the basic steps in setting up a trust for your child so we can make sure that all of your wishes are met.

1. Identify Your Beneficiaries

The first thing you have to do before setting up your trust is deciding who the beneficiary is. If you are setting up a trust to benefit your child or children, they will be the beneficiary. As the grantor, the choice of whom you want as beneficiaries of this trust is entirely your decision.

To make this process easier, it’s a good idea to make a list of all of your children and then list the goals you want the trust to achieve for them. The younger your children are, the more flexibility you will have when it comes to funding, and the easier it will be to avoid paying taxes. The earlier you start planning, the better.

Working with a Longmont trust planning lawyer can help ensure the trust is structured correctly and aligns with your long-term goals for your children.

2. Decide What Type of Trust You Want

This is another crucial step. There are several different types of trusts. For this step, it’s in your best interest to consult with a trust planning attorney. The last thing you want is to set up a trust that is intended to benefit your children, but because you chose the wrong type of trust or set it up incorrectly, they cannot use it for its intended purpose.

3. Choose a Trustee

You may not want your minor child inheriting and having sole ownership of all your assets at such a young age. In this case, it’s a good idea to choose a trustee who, upon your death, will maintain ownership of the trust until your child or children are old enough to take responsibility for your assets.

4. Outline the Terms of the Trust

This is another important step. There are many things to consider, for example: Do you want your children to receive the money all at once, or throughout the course of their lifetime? Can your children use the money in the trust while you’re alive or only once you pass away? Can your children do as they please with the money, or do they have to use it for a specific purpose? All of these questions should be considered and discussed with an experienced attorney.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the 5 by 5 rule in estate planning?

The 5 by 5 rule is an optional trust provision that allows a beneficiary to withdraw the greater of $5,000 or 5 percent of the trust’s value each year. It is not a legal requirement and does not apply automatically. It is a drafting choice that gives a beneficiary a predictable amount of access without handing over full control of the trust. An unused withdrawal right typically expires at the end of the year rather than accumulating. Whether it belongs in your trust depends on your goals, the size of the trust, and how much access you want a particular beneficiary to have.

Is it better to put your house in a will or a trust?

Neither option is automatically better. A house left through a will generally has to go through probate before title can transfer, which takes time and involves the court. A house properly titled in a revocable living trust can transfer without probate, provided the deed was actually transferred into the trust. A trust also allows someone to manage the property if you become incapacitated, without court involvement. The more useful question is usually what you want to happen to the house, who needs to be able to act, and what you are willing to have your family navigate after you are gone.

What assets do not form part of an estate?

Not everything you own passes through your estate. Assets that transfer automatically at death, whether by contract, by how they are titled, or through a trust, generally bypass probate entirely. These include retirement accounts, life insurance, and annuities with a named beneficiary, payable on death and transfer on death accounts, real estate held in joint tenancy with right of survivorship, and assets properly titled in the name of a revocable living trust. Non-probate transfers follow whatever form was filled out, not your intentions, so reviewing them periodically is how you keep everything pointed in the same direction.

What assets typically do not pass through probate?

Assets that carry their own instructions for what happens at death typically skip probate. That includes accounts with a named beneficiary, property held in joint tenancy with right of survivorship, payable on death and transfer on death accounts, and anything properly titled in a revocable living trust. These transfers happen by contract or by title, not by court order. The transfers that fail are usually the ones nobody checked, such as a beneficiary designation left blank, naming your estate, or a trust that was signed but never funded.

Contact Our Longmont Trust Planning Lawyer For a Free Initial Meeting

Anytime you’re considering creating a trust, it’s a good idea to consult with an attorney to ensure that your intentions are carried out. The Longmont estate planning attorneys at Colorado Estate Planning Law Center have been assisting people in the community with all of their trust planning needs for more than 20 years. Call our office at (303) 420-2863 or contact us online to set up a free initial interview.