|
|
|
Irrevocable Trust Planning: An Indispensible Tool in Rhode Island Elder Law
One focus of RI Elder Laws is to assist seniors with planning for possible long term care expenses. At the present time, planning will often focus on eligibility for Medicaid and for Veterans benefits. Irrevocable trusts are popular asset protection planning tools, and are frequently used in both Medicaid planning and Veterans planning. Asset protection trusts allow you to transfer certain assets into an entity that will be managed by a designated person who is financially competent and trustworthy.
A trust must be irrevocable to provide any asset protection. Generally, “irrevocable” means that the trust cannot be changed. However, RI attorneys provide that there are certain provisions that provide flexibility. For instance, if the person who creates the trust retains a special power of appointment, then that power can exercised to change the beneficiaries at a later date. Asset protection trusts can be designed to protect the assets from the creditors of the beneficiaries and from beneficiaries’ divorce claims as well. Thus, asset protection trust provides far superior control than outright gifts to children.