An irrevocable trust is a more advanced estate planning strategy – beyond a standard Last Will and Testament or Revocable Living Trust. Since the trust is created during lifetime, it adds another layer to estate planning, which is usually more focused on what happens when a client dies. With an irrevocable trust, the client is actually able to see part of the estate plan in action.
Irrevocable trusts are used for a variety of reasons, such as lifetime gifting to family members, to shelter assets from estate taxation, to prevent assets from being countable resources for Medicaid planning, to protect assets from creditors, and more. The trust’s purpose will often dictate many of its terms, but other terms are optional and can be used to add flexibility and extra protection for trust beneficiaries.
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Teresa Bush joined InterActive Legal in 2007 and serves as Director of Education and Support Services.
Ms. Bush has been licensed to practice law since 1991, and focused her practice exclusively on issues of estate and gift tax planning, probate, charitable planning, and estate and trust administration. She began her practice in a small law firm, planning for clients of all levels of wealth. Thereafter, she practiced for a number of years in the Tax Section of Kelly, Hart and Hallman, P.C. in Fort Worth, Texas, and as an estate and gift tax consultant for the Dallas office of Ernst & Young, in both cases focusing on planning for very high net worth clients.
Ms. Bush received her J.D. from the University of Texas School of Law, where she was a research assistant for Professor Stanley M. Johanson. She studied at Edinburgh University and the London School of Economics prior to obtaining a B.A. in Economics and Political Science from Rice University in Houston. While studying abroad, she worked as an intern for a Member of Parliament in the British House of Commons.
Ms. Bush taught legal research and writing as a Teaching Quizmaster in law school, and later taught estate planning extension courses for American College of Financial Services CLU candidates. She has presented several online webinars on estate planning and drafting topics, and is the author or co-author of a variety of estate planning articles.
After two decades of dedicated service as a geriatric social worker, Julieanne E. Steinbacher established her own law practice – in her garage –offering superior legal support for seniors since 2002. Specializing in asset protection for long-term healthcare, guardianships, and care management, her firm has expanded to seven offices across Northern and Central Pennsylvania with over 60 professionals, including long-term care planners and elder care navigators.
Julieanne is the President and Master Profitability Coach of The Million Dollar Solution– a coaching group that helps attorneys nationwide elevate their practice and profitability through personal, one-to-one coaching. Julieanne is a Certified Elder Law Attorney (CELA) through the National Elder Law Foundation, an author, and sought after lecturer on diverse topics such as trust and estate planning, special needs planning, wealth protection, succession planning, leadership and work-life balance.
Honored with the 2015 Pennsylvania Bar Association Special Achievement Award for her dedication to the Association’s Quality of Life & Balance Committee, which she has co-chaired for three years, Julieanne is also a Certified Dementia Practitioner.
