A trust is a legal vehicle for holding assets and property “in trust” for another person. Trusts have three basic elements to them – the trustor, the trustee, and the beneficiary. The trustor is also called the grantor and is the creator of the trust whose assets and property are funded into the trust. Due
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A trust fund is a trust dedicated to providing a wealth source for a beneficiary, usually for some time. Trust funds and trusts are generally interchangeable. The main difference is that a “trust fund” mostly describes an inheritance or estate planning tool meant to provide a source of income to a beneficiary over a period.
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The “5 and 5 power” rule, also known as the “5 by 5 power” or “5 or 5 power” clause, is sometimes instated in trusts to let beneficiaries to a trust withdraw a certain amount of value from the trust every year before it is officially scheduled to distribute itself. To understand why this might
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Trusts exist to hold money and assets in trust for a beneficiary on behalf of a grantor or trustor. These are legal entities defined and limited by a trust document and called into existence to separate the contents of the trust from its original owner for the beneficiary. Trusts exist in many shapes and forms,
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Life insurance policies exist to provide an additional financial safety net for our loved ones in the case of an untimely death or serious illness. This is especially true for primary earners or breadwinners, who may be worried about what might happen to their family if they were to disappear. Through a life insurance policy,
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When a person dies, their belongings must pass onto the living. When no other arrangements are made, these belongings are usually distributed and passed among the next of kin according to the intestate laws in the decedent’s home state. This process is supervised by a probate court and can be lengthy, depending on the decedent’s
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A conservator is appointed by a court to care for an adult who is mentally or physically disabled and incapable of caring fully for themselves, or a minor in need of an adult to manage finances and properties under their name. Conservators have a fiduciary duty to their conservatees, and the exact limits of their
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To understand how a trust should be built, you need to first understand what a living trust is, how funding a trust works, and why it’s important. A trust is only worth what you fund it with – so if you decide against funding a trust, it is effectively useless. Learn more about funding
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Life insurance policies provide a plethora of tax advantages depending on the policy and your circumstances, especially regarding its beneficiary. But for you, the policyholder, a large life insurance policy payout after your death may count towards your estate’s total value and potentially push you over the edge of the federal and/or state estate tax
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In California, a “small estate affidavit” is often used to resolve final estate matters for a deceased person who died without a will and can help fast track the costly, lengthy process of probate. A small estate affidavit is a state-specific legal document used to skip the estates’ probate process with a total value under
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