Don't Touch That!Don't Touch That!
Estate-planning clients are growing ever more conscious of creditors.1 Clients not only want to protect their assets while they're alive, but also want to protect the wealth they leave to their spouses and children against creditors, spendthrift tendencies and bad marriages. Leaving assets outright to family members exposes inherited wealth fully to creditors.2 But leaving those assets in trust may
December 1, 2007
Amy K. Kanyuk, partner, McDonald & Kanyuk, PLLC, Concord, N.H.
Estate-planning clients are growing ever more conscious of creditors.1 Clients not only want to protect their assets while they're alive, but also want to protect the wealth they leave to their spouses and children — against creditors, spendthrift tendencies and bad marriages. Leaving assets outright to family members exposes inherited wealth fully to creditors.2 But leaving those assets in trust may partially or even completely protect them.
The level of creditor protection a trust provides depends on various factors, including state law and the beneficiaries' ability to control the distribution of assets from the trust. (See “Who Can Do What,” p. 19.) The publication of the R...
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