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Spousal Lifetime Access Trusts-Investigate Planning Opportunities
| Estate Planning Technique As with all planning techniques, your plan must be tailored to you and your unique situation. Popularity doesn’t mean a technique is right for you. As we get close to our election, it is reasonable to consider that certain “tax” raising strategies will be employed. One such strategy is the gift tax exemption. The 2019 exemption was $11,400,000. A new administration could reduce the tax to $3.5M or even $1M If your goals of wanting to use the exemption before it drops, protecting assets, and you still want to have access to your assets, and you are married, you may want to consider a spousal lifetime access trust. Essentially, you name your spouse as a beneficiary and you can “indirectly” benefit from trust assets by the trustee making distributions to your spouse. Consider the following example: A wife and husband set up a trust each for the benefit of their children. You want to plan around the trusts being reciprocal (they should not be similar). A properly structured SLAT removes assets from your estate, protects assets from creditors. Husband is beneficiary of the wife’s trust and vice versa.This accomplishes significant assets outside of the estate yet provides access to the assets in trust. Consult with your estate planning professional. Have the conversation, take advantage of the opportunity. If we can further be of service, please reach out. |