How to setup a trust....need advice...
 

I'd like to set one up to make a "family charity, etc.".... ongoing, in smaller %s....not handing over "relatively large" amounts to folks that I DO trust....but still...."money...money changes everything....". My atty tells me all I can do is pick who (and %) that add up to 100%...and it's theirs ('cause I trust them), to do whatever? I ain't buyin' it :(. How can I keep the principle "intact" and only have the income (and maybe a small %) used over time...can I accomplish this via a trust?

Throw out some ideas....thanks!

Sorta. You gift or leave the money to a trust, and the trustee is required to disburse income periodically (or some fixed amt which you hope is income plus a small amount). The trustee manages the principal.
However, a trust cannot go on "forever". There is the "Rule Against Perpetuities" which is almost impossible to explain here but sets a time limit on a trust-more or less a generation plus. On a tangent it was a key plot element in "Body Heat".

^^^ perfect...exactly what I desire. What's a reasonable time frame? How can I phrase this when I talk to my atty again? Thank you so much...this place rocks ;).

Did you use CAudioRepair....for your 1.0t repair/mod?

edited:...I did not read...a generation...perfect!

Thanks Greg....some quick reading helps!

Still need my 4.0t fixed though ;)

There are states that allow generation skipping trusts. South Dakota is one. You can hire a professional trustee in South Dakota to get access to their jurisdiction and you don't even need to base the trust in South Dakota.

As an aside, Greg, I think you're about my age. Did you read about Body Heat in one of the chapter notes in your trusts and estates text? If so, we may have had the same textbook. The best thing that came out of my Wills, Trusts & Estates class was getting introduced to Body Heat. If anyone hasn't seen it, I strongly encourage watching it. It is one of the smartest, most clever and sexiest movies I've ever seen.

I reckon I'll just have to watch it....free legal advice ;)

Did your law text discuss the hotness of Kathlene Turner? She was amazing in that one.

Meeting with my attorney: the big take away was that I could name my trust anything I wanted. Anything!


My wife rolled her eyes and groaned. But I got my way.

The Kathlene Turner Hotness Appreciation Trust!

Anything! Haha.

In typically understated lawyer prose, the textbook author managed to convey Ms. Turner's hotness without saying so explicitly.

She did not come up....at ALL :(....

.....need better advice....legal or not....

I maybe wrong however, I think you want an irrevocable trust.

Yes...just want a bit of say-so in how it's distributed over a few years....common sense imo. Or we'll have a Pelican KEG party that would make Charlie Sheen blush :)

I call the Tiger blood!!!

Yes. Its gone now, replaced by a tfm25 that's over at Rodger Pinto's here in cville for a recap.

Lingo? Trusts come in two flavors, testamentary (established by your will) and living (funded by you while alive). It used to be that living trusts were an estate planning tool, but with the increase in the fed estate tax exclusion they've become less popular. They can to some extent protect against other creditors of a living person.

In either case you'll want a "spendthrift clause" that prevents creditors of the trust's beneficiaries from attacking the trust's undistributed principal. Very useful in the USA where a medical emergency can create onerous debt even in the case of a responsible person.

Shop carefully if looking for a "institutional fiduciary"- ie a bank or brokerage that will manage the assets. All charge something for this, and the fee should include tax prep etc. Not to shill anyone, but Vanguard has very low fees for this. The caveat there is that they invest primarily in indexes-they do diversify but do not attempt to beat the overall market.

PM me for a phone number if you want to chat. Usual caveats apply.

I was in school 82-85 (I'm 59) and Body Heat was '81 so i missed that text. It is a genius flick. Turner at her peak, before her pretentious accent.

My trusts and estates class was pretty dull, good old Professor Rothman.

You old fart....I'll be there in a few months :)

I don't think what I need/want is complicated at all...LOTS of trusted family members (trustees, etc.), doesn't need to be managed....just not mis-managed...say for 15 years....then poof goes the rest :)

Details to be worked out and determined later....I've got time to do it right..not twice.

Now about my 4.0t....CAR methinks....just bringing it back to spec should work for me...ya think? Or the chassis refresh....

Sounded great to me for years....and I'm cheap ;)

Thanks man....

I was in school from 88-91, so it was long enough after Body Heat that it was starting to be recognized as a classic. I switched my Wills Trusts and Estates section from a beloved and entertaining professor to a dry as toast adjunct dragging himself in to twice a week evening classes because I could tell the regular professor was going to be fun in class but murder in grading. I figured that sitting through the adjunct's section would be murder but he would make up for it by being an easier grader.

Classes were a slow death. I survived by reading the little commentaries at the end of the chapter. Most were only slightly less boring than the lecture, but at the end of the chapter on the Rule Against Perpetuities was a discussion of Body Heat. I rented it and after a few minutes of Kathleen Turner's sultry voice and steamy skin, I forgave my poor, bedraggled adjunct prof for every minute of torture.

The adjunct did turn out to give better grades than the regular professor, so it all worked out for me and I can honestly say that I learned something valuable in Wills, Trusts and Estates.

KC, it doesn't sound too complicated but I'd still use an attorney to set it up. It should be a $1,000 $1,500 sort of project. Shop around to find someone who does only wills, trusts & estates and is able to turn something like this over in a couple of hours. You don;t want someone reinventing the wheel.

Absolutely...thank you! I hate shopping :(

Thank you both....