Issues with Trust Set-Up

[TheInLaw]

Jurisdiction

Georgia

Here is the scenario: Dad setting up trust to be administered after passing of he and spouse. Trust 50/50 to son and daughter. There will be a cap on distribution each year. Dad wants NO MONEY ever to be accessible to son-in-law. However, Dad DOES want money to be accessible to daughter-in-law if his son passes first. Financial Planner & Estate Attorney are telling him this can only be accomplished through a blood-line trust and that means that if his son pre-deceases his wife she will get nothing and all will go to his children (grantor's grandchildren).

Is there ANY WAY to split Dad's money 50/50 in a way that one child can have their money shielded from their spouse but the other can have their spouse be a beneficiary of their half?

 

[army judge]

Is there ANY WAY to split Dad's money 50/50 in a way that one child can have their money shielded from their spouse but the other can have their spouse be a beneficiary of their half?

Possibly.

Advise the potential grantor (your pops) to speak a wills & trust attorney about his wishes.

What will be the approximate value of the trust?

What the grantor wishes complicates the creation of the trust.
There are ways to do so, one way is a family trust for benefit of A, B, and their issue (his grandkids).

What the grantor often forgets is that the grantees sometimes outlive the grantor.

In most circumstances, (although people don't wish to consider it), its best to just gift today what you no longer need.

I did that with the better part of my assets, and whatever is left will simply be addressed by my will.

 

[TheInLaw]

Possibly.

Advise the potential grantor (your pops) to speak a wills & trust attorney about his wishes.

What will be the approximate value of the trust?

What the grantor wishes complicates the creation of the trust.
There are ways to do so, one way is a family trust for benefit of A, B, and their issue (his grandkids).

What the grantor often forgets is that the grantees sometimes outlive the grantor.

In most circumstances, (although people don't wish to consider it), its best to just gift today what you no longer need.

I did that with the better part of my assets, and whatever is left will simply be addressed by my will.

So a wills & trust attorney is a different animal than his estate planning attorney? They have been insistent that there is no way that this can be accomplished. Approx. value of trust, I'm guessing, around 1-1.5mil. And you are correct, gifting now is not being considered. I've seen the A,B before - I'm off to research that possible solution!

 

[TheInLaw]

If I'm reading it right, the AB trust only works for the Dad and his wife - has no bearing on the son who receives 50% of the trust.

 

[army judge]

If I'm reading it right, the AB trust only works for the Dad and his wife - has no bearing on the son who receives 50% of the trust.

A B as in person 1 , person 2
Family trust is one form of animal
Yes, will & trust attorney is a different animal than estate planner


Another option is a bank's trust department
The bank can assist in creating the trust and disbursing the funds

 

[zddoodah]

Is there ANY WAY to split Dad's money 50/50 in a way that one child can have their money shielded from their spouse but the other can have their spouse be a beneficiary of their half?

Yes. Trusts can be set up in virtually any way. Your father apparently has an attorney to advise him about these things.

Keep in mind, however, that once the daughter receives whatever $$ she receives, she can do as she pleases with it, including giving to her husband.

So a wills & trust attorney is a different animal than his estate planning attorney?

No. They're the same thing (or, at the very least, there's substantial overlap).

They have been insistent that there is no way that this can be accomplished.

Your father may want to seek a second opinion. It also might be the case that things are getting lost in translation between your father and his attorney and you. By the way, are you the son or the daughter?