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A common misconception in the arena of Estate Planning is that trusts are only for people with large amounts of money, trying to avoid taxes. It is first important to understand that there are many different types of trusts, each serving a different purpose.

Question: My mother has a trust that protects her house in case she needs long term care in a nursing home. Is this legal? Also, when she dies the trust is paid to another trust for me. Do I need this? I am only 53 and my mother is 75.

As Elder Law Attorneys, we focus on Medicaid planning for our clients in order to have access to long-term care. It is equally as important to ensure that their beneficiaries will have access to government programs and not be disqualified by the fact that they received an inheritance.

For a traditional married couple, the estate planning has become simpler in many ways. Before the estate tax was increased on both the State and Federal level, we were fixated on saving estate taxes.

You may have heard in the news that Joan Rivers and Lauren Bacall left a portion of their estates for the care of their beloved pets. Anyone who had an animal understands exactly what Rivers and Bacall were doing, ensuring that pets would be properly cared for after they were gone.

A Qualified Terminable Interest Property trust, commonly known as a QTIP trust for short, is a type of marital trust that offers flexibility in planning for your spouse and remainder beneficiaries upon your death, while also providing estate tax planning if needed.

A Revocable Living Trust, also called an intervivos trust, is a trust created during a person’s lifetime and is designed to give the grantor (creator) flexibility and control over his or her assets.

With tax planning becoming less of an issue for the average client, the focus in estate planning has shifted to asset protection for intended beneficiaries. As attorneys, we often hear our clients tell us that they plan to leave everything equally to their children, but that they are concerned that one (or more than one!) has creditor issues or are going through a divorce.

Question: My mother has a trust that is supposed to protect her assets in case she needs Medicaid in the future. How do assets get into a trust, I am confused.

A first party supplemental needs trust, also known as a special needs trust, is established with the disabled beneficiary’s own funds, usually from a lawsuit settlement or inheritance, to avoid becoming ineligible for a needs-based government benefit.