Maryland Trusts – Jeff Rogyom

What Is a Testamentary Trust and What Are Its Benefits?

A testamentary trust is any trust formed based upon terms contained in the settlor’s last will and testament. A testamentary trust is neither formed nor funded until death and does not exist for legal and tax purposes prior to that time.

An estate planning attorney determines the types of trusts to be used based upon the particular needs and goals of the family. Often an attorney may have several trust options capable of achieving their client’s goals. An attorney sometimes recognizes that a trust may only be needed if certain circumstances occur. As such, rather than form the trust immediately, the person forming the trust can include the terms of the trust in the last will and testament and delay the funding of the trust until the time of their death.

Intentionally Defective Grantor Trusts

If you have assets you anticipate will increase in value, you can “freeze” the value of those assets for estate tax purposes with an Intentionally Defective Grantor Trust, an “IDGT”. Most wonder why they would want an “intentionally defective” anything, but it references the fact your estate attorney will purposefully insert language making the transfer of assets to the trust an incomplete gift for income tax purposes but a complete gift for estate tax purposes. Therefore, immediately following the transfer to the IDGT, the IRS considers the trust’s assets to be owned by your heirs for estate tax purposes but still considered owned by you for income tax purposes. These differing classifications can be very beneficial for those with estate tax concerns, rather than a need for a step-up in basis at death.

What is a Trust? The Basics of Forming a Maryland Trust

It’s common to hear attorneys and others refer to trusts, but you may not know exactly what they are or why they are needed. A trust is similar to an entity, such as a corporation or an LLC, in that a trust has a separate identity from either the person that formed it or the people it is intended to benefit. The trust may own property in its own name and may even have a separate tax ID for its dealings with the IRS.

Forming An Irrevocable Life Insurance Trust (ILIT)

An Irrevocable Life Insurance Trust, or ILIT, should be of interest to any person buying life insurance. The ILIT is not just for people with estate tax issues. The ILIT can allow you to control how and when insurance proceeds are distributed to beneficiaries. Rather than going straight to the beneficiary, the insurance company pays the proceeds into a trust that then pays the amounts to the beneficiary as quickly or as slowly as you decide. Such a trust can be particularly beneficial when the potential beneficiary is younger, may have potential marital issues, or has difficultly managing money. Continue reading “Forming An Irrevocable Life Insurance Trust (ILIT)”

Not Having a Will in Maryland

Many wonder what happens if you die without a Will. Each state, including Maryland, has its own laws that determine what happens to the person’s estate. The differences between each state’s laws do cause confusion, and your assumptions about Maryland’s laws may be incorrect and can cause incredibly negative problems.

When someone dies without a Will, the rules governing the estate are called “intestate laws”. When intestate laws apply, the deceased person may be referred to as having “died intestate” and having left an “intestate estate”. Your state’s intestate laws serve essentially as your Will if your family cannot provide an actual Will. Maryland’s intestate laws are often not what most people expect. Continue reading “Not Having a Will in Maryland”

Maryland Special Needs Trusts

Giving gifts and bequests to friends or relatives with special needs requires that you take into consideration whether it will affect the person’s government benefits. But do not worry, there are many ways of providing assistance to disabled persons, many of whom are very needy of your assistance because of their unfortunate circumstances. Forming a special needs trust is one way of assisting the person.

Ensuring the beneficiary will continue to receive their government benefits, such as Medicaid or Supplemental Security Income (SSI), may require you to give the gift or bequest through a special needs trust, also known as a supplemental needs trust.

When providing such a gift or bequest you intend to improve the comfort of the person with special needs, not relieve the government of its burden. However, certain government benefit programs require the person be financially needy. If the person with special needs has assets in excess of $2,000, then the beneficiary will not qualify for Supplemental Security Income (SSI). So, if you gave your child with autism $50,000, then their SSI, Medicaid, and other government benefits could stop and they would need to live on your $50,000 gift until their assets are back to being under $2,000. At the end of the day, the only one benefiting from such a gift would be the government. Because of this and similar issues, attorneys developed planning techniques by which the person with disabilities will receive the benefit of your contribution without losing their medical and other benefits.

Maryland Estate Planning Guide

Please see my new page, Maryland Estate Planning. The page is a summary for those seeking basic advice regarding Maryland estate planning. This summary covers the most frequently asked questions and stresses my belief that most, if not all, people should consider some estate planning. I welcome any suggestions for additional content.

Thanks for your continued support.

Sincerely,

Jeff Rogyom