Gonzales Trusts Lawyer

Gonzales Trusts Attorney

A well-made estate plan is one that supports your loved ones as much as possible and minimizes the stress of legal processes and confusion about inheritance. A trust is an estate planning tool that could allow your beneficiaries to immediately inherit and avoid most complex legal issues. You can create an estate plan that gives you significant control over your estate with the help of a Gonzales trusts lawyer.

For more than 40 years, Goode Tax and Estate Planning Law Group, LLC has helped individuals and families create comprehensive estate plans to address their future. We understand that your goals and your family’s needs are unique. We explain Louisiana’s intricate laws and apply those requirements to your estate plan to create an exceptional and enforceable trust. Carl S. Goode is board-certified in estate planning and tax law.

Our firm has professional relationships with the Ascension Parish Judicial District Court, located on E. Worthey Street, which can help ease the process of the administration of a trust and estate.

What Is a Trust?

A trust is a unique estate planning tool that enables you to distribute and protect your assets throughout your lifetime and after your death. It is a legal entity that keeps your assets out of the succession court, allows you more control over distribution, and allows your loved ones to more quickly inherit from you. Despite these benefits, only 13% of Americans stated they had a trust, while 55% stated they had no estate planning documents at all.

Any amount of estate planning can help the succession process go more smoothly and help support your loved ones after your death. A trust is an especially powerful and flexible tool in estate planning that can avoid most or all of the succession process. This limits the stress on your loved ones and saves them time and money.

Types of Trusts

There are two primary types of trusts: revocable and irrevocable.

• Revocable trusts. Also called living trusts, these allow you to retain control over the assets in your lifetime. Typically, you name yourself the trustee of the trust, and name a successor trustee for after your death. By doing this, you retain control over the trust, its assets, and the beneficiaries named in it. You can change the terms of the trust at any time.
• Irrevocable trusts. These cannot be as easily changed after they are made. When you create this type of trust, you name someone else trustee—meaning you no longer have control over the assets in the trust. If you want to change the assets in the trust or the beneficiaries to whom they go, you must take additional steps to do so. Irrevocable trusts also help minimize taxes and creditor claims on your estate during your life and after your death.

There are many different uses for trusts, depending on how you structure them and how you plan the distribution. For example, a spendthrift trust is a trust that provides small amounts of inheritance over time or only allows funds to be removed for specific purposes. This is meant to prevent the beneficiary from overspending their inheritance.

There are also special needs trusts, which allow disabled beneficiaries to receive inheritance without threatening their essential governmental benefits. Because they do not own the assets in the trust, it is not counted as part of their assets.

Benefits of a Trust

There are a multitude of benefits to creating a trust, including:

• Avoiding the long and expensive succession process
• Providing your loved ones with more privacy for themselves and what they have inherited
• Limiting the risk of disputes between loved ones
• Minimizing tax burdens on your estate
• Ensuring your minor children will have their inheritance protected
• Providing for children of a prior marriage
• Preventing some assets from creditor claims
• Controlling how and why inheritance is used

FAQs

How Much Do Most Lawyers Charge for a Trust?

The cost of creating a trust will vary based on the attorney you work with, the complexity of your estate, and the type of legal service you are requesting. Some services, like a review of a trust document, may be a flat fee. Other services, like working with you over time to create a trust that reflects your goals, may be an hourly rate. The average hourly rate for a trust attorney is $287 in Louisiana.

Do You Need a Lawyer to Create a Trust?

You aren’t required to work with a lawyer to create a trust in Louisiana, but there are numerous benefits to having experienced legal guidance as you create the trust. A trust only provides you and your loved ones with benefits if it is legally enforceable. Working with a trust lawyer means you are more likely to create a valid and straightforward document that represents your wishes for your estate and your loved ones.

What Is the Difference Between a Will and a Trust?

The main difference between a will and a trust is that a trust is a legal entity that can keep assets from entering succession, while a will is a document that goes through the succession process. Both a trust and a will name and distribute assets to beneficiaries, but a will does this through the succession process, while a trust is a more private and immediate process. Trusts are also active during the creator’s lifetime.

What Is the Difference Between an Estate Planning Lawyer and a Trust Lawyer?

Estate planning lawyers help individuals create documents in an estate plan, including wills, trusts, powers of attorney, and more. Some trust lawyers are skilled in the creation of a trust, while others work in trust administration. Typically, an estate planning lawyer will be able to help you create a trust, and a trust lawyer would also likely have experience in other types of estate planning documents. However, you should always check the experience of the specific attorney with whom you work.

Take Action to Protect Your Family, Your Estate, and Your Peace of Mind

It can feel overwhelming to address inevitable issues like the distribution of your estate after death. You don’t have to navigate legal and emotional complexities alone.

The team at Goode Tax and Estate Planning Law Group, LLC, can help you lay out your wishes for your estate and create an estate plan and trust that reflects those wishes. Contact our firm today and see how we can help you create a clear and comprehensive estate plan.