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Estate planning often focuses on where property passes at death, either via a revocable trust or a last will and testament.  In some cases, however, a client may want to make gifts of property during lifetime, or they may be advised to do so for various reasons.  Those lifetime gifts could be made outright, but in many situations, the client may prefer to use a trust.  The donees of lifetime gifts might benefit from having the gifts in trust as well.  

In this presentation, we will discuss how to draft what are sometimes referred to as “Medicaid Asset Protection Trusts,” or “MAPTs.”  In InterActive Legal’s Elder Law and Special Needs Planning system, the trusts we refer to as the  “Income Only Trust” and the “Children’s Trust” are intended for Medicaid planning.   The different drafting options in each of these trusts will be explained, and we will consider why certain options might be selected in certain situations.  We will cover the income tax planning options in these trusts, including options for preserving the step-up in basis for trust assets and the capital gain exclusion for sales of personal residences (which are often transferred into trust for Medicaid planning purposes).  Finally, we will review using a Joint Income Only Trust and a Joint Children's Trust (one trust created by both Husband and Wife, as grantors), and the issues involved.

Credit-Shelter Trusts (sometimes called "Bypass Trusts") are a common feature in married estate plans when estate taxation is a concern.  While we cover credit-shelter trusts in our practice system training, most clients don't need them, given that the federal estate tax exemption is still very high.  Therefore, many subscribers may not use credit-shelter trusts regularly, and this webinar is designed to revisit how to bring them into the estate plan when necessary.

One of the most frequent questions from subscribers is about how to draft a conduit or accumulation trust, and this drafting webinar is designed to address that question, and more. Of course, retirement benefits are non-probate assets, passing via separate beneficiary designation forms, but sometimes a client wants those assets to pass in the same manner as the rest of their property, so they might designate the trusts created in their estate plan as beneficiaries. But if a trust is named as a beneficiary, it must contain certain provisions to qualify for an extended payout of the retirement assets (to avoid having to be paid out – and subject to income taxation – within five years of the participant’s death.