IS A TRUST BETTER THAN A WILL?
Today, more than ever before, you are a target for liens,
lawsuits and seizures. But the dangers to your personal
assets can strike from any direction. Lawsuits are only
one danger. You may suddenly be hit by a huge tax deficiency
or simply run up more debts than you can afford due to an
unexpected job layoff or other financial emergency beyond
your control.
It's an unpleasant thought that a sudden lawsuit or financial
reversal can cause you to lose your home, life savings,
and other valuable assets including sever emotional problems
with your loved ones.
Yet, the realities are that it happens every day. Thousands
of families and individuals fail to protect their assets,
or plan for possible financial difficulties and find themselves
wiped out, often with little warning.
Fortunately, through timely and decisive action, you can
fully protect your property against practically any legal
or financial threat.
Deploying your assets to provide maximum protection from
creditors is neither immoral nor unlawful. You have an obligation
to yourself and your family to protect and preserve what
you have worked so hard to accumulate.
ESTATE AND DEATH TAXES...
A penalty for dying: Every day heirs lose huge amounts
of their inheritances to probate costs and death taxes.
With only a will up to 70% of your estate can disappear
in paying lawyers' fees, death taxes, estate taxes, probate
court costs, etc.
These harsh realities should lead you to ask how you can
lawfully minimize the possibility of losing your home, retirement
pension, savings or other valuable assets to credit claims,
and avoid expensive probate costs for your loved ones.
A SIMPLE SOLUTION TO THESE COMPLEX PROBLEMS...
There are means that can provide peace of mind, security,
and privacy to your financial affairs, and that can provide
continuing benefits to your heirs for many generations.
A Trust or a combination of trusts can provide the answers.
Trusts arrived, from Europe, in America with the colonists.
The first Trust of record was drafted by the famous attorney
and patriot, Patrick Henry, in 1765, 24 years before the
adoption of the Constitution. This Trust is still in operation
today, over 200 years later.
Another example of a trust used for a family's estate is
that of the Joseph Kennedy family. Joseph Kennedy, father
of the late President John F. Kennedy, originally established
a Trust to own the famous Chicago Merchandise Mart.
The Kennedy family is known to maintain several other Trusts
for tax shelter purposes as well. One such trust was reported
in the March 22, 1947 issue of the Chicago Tribune with
the caption, "Kennedy Divides Merchandise Mart".
This was a trust agreement in which Kennedy's wife, Rose
F. Kennedy, and a long-time friend and associate, John L.
Ford, joined as trustees of the trust and helped materially
in distributing ownership in the thirty million dollar Chicago
Merchandise Mart among members of the Kennedy family.
The Rockefeller family has used various kinds of trusts
as a means to maximizing privacy. Before his death in 1937,
John D. Rockefeller tucked much of his fortune into about
70 trusts for his descendants.
These Trusts place the funds beyond the reach of the high
cost of probate and inheritance tax.
In 1966 Ronald Reagan established a trust that has enabled
him to receive sizable tax advantages. In some years since
it was established, Mr. Reagan paid no taxes at all, while
maintaining a magnificent living standard.
These are only a few of the many thousands of family estates
preserved generation after generation through the use of
Trusts.
You, too, can take advantage of the same opportunities
for you and your family.
THE PRESENT DAY PROBATE SYSTEM
Under present day law, all property owned by a deceased,
including property in which an incidence of ownership was
held at the time of death, must enter into the probate system
before any property can pass to the heirs. Did you know
that if you own property in your name in other states that
your will must also be probated in each such state before
it can be passed on to your heirs. Having each property
in a separate trust can solve that problem and save your
loved ones potentially thousands of dollars.
If you suddenly discover that you are the beneficiary of
an estate, don't be too fast to run out and spend your inheritance.
It can take years for rightful heirs to collect their legacies.
There is no such thing as a fast trip through the probate
system. No matter how efficient the executor and attorney
are in gathering the assets, paying the debts and taxes,
and finally making the disbursements, there are bound to
be delays.
Creditors have from four months to a year, depending on
state law, to present a claim. Then the government agencies
step in to collect their share. Within nine months of the
date of death, the executor must file federal estate tax
forms. But the IRS can take a year or more to audit the
return, and many times, months are required to satisfy the
state taxing agency. |
