Trusts are a versatile asset management tool. In basic terms, a trust can offer you the opportunity to define how your assets are administered while you are alive, if you become incapacitated, and after you pass away. Some trusts offer asset protection and potential tax advantages. Remember, a trust's benefits and suitability depend on your circumstances, objectives, and current tax laws, which are subject to change over time. 

• Trusts can be customized according to specific goals and circumstances. Grantors can set terms for how and when assets are distributed, offering a high degree of control over the part of their wealth inside the trusts.

• Assets in a trust typically bypass the probate process, which can be lengthy and costly. This ensures a quicker and more private distribution of assets to designated beneficiaries.

• Trusts can be structured to preserve wealth across generations, setting conditions for asset distribution that align with the grantor's long-term wishes.

• Certain trusts can provide a legal structure to protect assets from creditors, lawsuits, or bankruptcies. By placing assets in a certain trust, they are legally owned by the trust, not the individual, which can shield them from personal financial risks.

Example: An irrevocable life insurance trust (ILIT) can be used to exclude the proceeds of life insurance products from the taxable estate. When a person passes, the life insurance proceeds go into the trust and are not usually counted in their estate.

A living trust (also known as a revocable or inter vivos trust) is a separate legal entity you create to own property, such as your home or investments. The trust is called a living trust because it’s meant to function while you’re alive. You control the property in the trust, and whenever you wish, you can change the trust terms, transfer property in and out of the trust, or end the trust altogether.

Not everyone needs a living trust, but there are few high-achieving families we have met who do not. The primary function is typically to avoid probate. This is possible because property in a living trust is not included in the probate estate.

Why would you need a revocable living trust? I know what you’re thinking: What’s the point of placing my own assets in a trust I control? Why not just hold onto them directly or with my spouse and pass them on to my heirs in a will? That’s a great question. Here’s the quick answer: estate taxes. 

The state you live in has laws about estate taxes. If you live in a state with estate taxes, you have an estate planning challenge if your wealth exceeds the state’s threshold hold. As mentioned above, Illinois has set the limit at $4 million per person, even though the federal exemption for estate taxes is $13.61 million. If you live in Illinois and pass away with more than $4 million, your estate (and your loved ones) will get slapped with taxes—unless it has been planned for in a trust. 

Whether or not estate taxes are an issue, there are still a number of reasons that estate planning in general and an RLT in particular may make sense for you and your family. 

• Efficiency. Compared to executing an RLT, traditional probate can be considerably more time-consuming and potentially far more costly. You don’t want your loved ones to be caught up in that mess. And, while it is possible to avoid probate without establishing an RLT, the arrangements may not cover key decisions that need to be made should you become incapacitated.

• Costs. We know $2,000–$4,000 set-up costs for a typical RLT is not chump change, but that expense pales in comparison to what it can cost to settle your estate after the fact. It’s not uncommon for those costs to run as high as 5 percent of your assets. If your intended beneficiaries must resort to litigation to get the job done, the sky can become the limit. And that’s not even considering the time and emotional toll involved.

• Privacy. Unlike probate, which is a very public proceeding with public records maintained, your RLT decisions are kept private, keeping others out of your business—and your family’s business as well. Everyone deserves their privacy.

• Effectiveness. An RLT helps ensure that your assets are distributed based on your documented intents instead of by a judge assigned to rule on your probate proceedings. You can specify exactly how you want every part of your estate handled.

• Flexibility. Because an RLT is revocable, you can do the following: change its terms, add newly acquired assets, add, change, or remove special provisions for particular assets, and cover scenarios where you may become temporarily or permanently incapable of handling your affairs. You can designate secondary trustees, asset management preferences, and competency ruling procedures. This protects a loved one from being left to anguish over what you would have preferred, or worse yet, from getting left out of the decision-making entirely.

Compared to wills, the bottom line is that revocable trusts provide increased privacy and more control and flexibility over asset distribution. With a revocable living trust, you do most of the work upfront, making the disposition of your estate easier and faster. But they also require substantially more effort and higher costs. 

Family Limited Partnerships (FLPs) are another estate and tax planning tool families with significant assets use. They function by allowing family members to pool their assets into a single family-controlled partnership. 

• An FLP is created when family members establish a partnership according to state laws. Typically, parents contribute assets to the partnership and retain the role of general partners, while children or other family members are designated as limited partners.

• General partners manage the FLP, making decisions about investments and distributions. Limited partners, although they are interested in the FLP, have limited rights in management and decision-making.

• Assets within an FLP can be protected from individual creditors of the partners, offering a degree of security against personal liabilities.

Tax Benefits:

• One significant advantage of an FLP is in estate planning. By gifting limited partnership interests to family members, the size of the estate of the general partners can be reduced, potentially lowering estate taxes upon their passing. Transferring assets to an FLP and gifting limited partnership interests can be more tax-efficient than directly gifting assets. This is because the value of limited partnership interests can be discounted due to a lack of control and marketability, reducing the gift tax value.

• The FLP structure allows for the flow-through of income and deductions to partners, which can be advantageous for tax purposes. Income or losses are reported on each partner's tax returns.

For example, consider a scenario where parents transfer $2 million of investment property into an FLP. They maintain control as general partners but gift 50% of the partnership interests to their children as limited partners. The value might be appraised at a 30% discount, reducing the taxable value of the gift from $1 million to $700,000. This strategy lowers the potential estate tax and gift tax liabilities significantly.

Charitable giving is not just a noble endeavor; it's also a smart tax strategy. Charitable Remainder Trusts (CRTs) and Donor-Advised Funds (DAFs) are popular vehicles for you to support charitable causes while receiving significant tax benefits.

You may be wondering why charitable giving produces so many tax benefits. If you didn’t make donations to worthy organizations, the government would have to fund them with higher taxes. The benefits are your incentives for giving so governments don’t have to provide their funding. 

A CRT is a trust that can sell appreciated property tax-free and provide an income stream to the donor or other beneficiaries for a set period, including the life of the surviving spouse, after which the trust terminates. The remaining assets go to one or more designated charities.

Tax Benefits:

As the donor, you receive an immediate income tax deduction for the charitable portion of the trust, calculated based on the present value of the remainder interest that will eventually go to the charity.

Suppose appreciated assets are donated to the CRT. In that case, the trust can sell these assets without incurring capital gains tax, allowing the full value of the assets to be reinvested for income generation.

For example, you contribute stock worth $1 million, with an original purchase price of $200,000, to a CRT. In that case, you avoid immediate capital gains taxes on the $800,000 appreciation and receive a current income tax deduction based on the beneficiary's age and the trust's anticipated term.

A DAF is a philanthropic vehicle administered by a public charity. Donors contribute to the fund and recommend grants to charitable organizations over time.

Tax Benefits:

You receive an immediate tax deduction in the year you contribute to the DAF.

Like CRTs, contributing appreciated assets to a DAF can avoid capital gains taxes on their sale inside the trust.

For example, you contribute $50,000 in appreciated securities to a DAF. You receive an immediate tax deduction for the market value of the securities and avoid capital gains taxes on the appreciation, enhancing the amount available for charitable giving.

Regular gifting can significantly reduce the taxable estate while benefiting your loved ones during your lifetime. Utilizing the annual gift tax exclusion, a fee-only fiduciary advisor in Chicago can guide you in making tax-free gifts to family members. 

These could be direct cash gifts or contributions for educational and medical expenses, effectively reducing the size of the estate and the accompanying tax burden.

• Annual Exclusion: An annual exclusion limit for gifts allows individuals to give a certain amount each year to as many people as they wish without incurring any gift taxes. For 2024, this amount is $18,000 per recipient.

• Lifetime Exemption: Beyond the annual exclusion, there's a lifetime exemption of $13,610,000. Gifts above the annual exclusion count towards this lifetime limit. Once this limit is exceeded, the excess amounts are subject to gift tax.

Tax Benefits: 

• You reduce your taxable estate by utilizing the annual exclusion and lifetime exemption. This can lower estate taxes when you pass away, leaving more assets for your heirs.

For example, suppose you have an estate worth $3 million. You decide to gift $18,000 annually to each of your three children. Over ten years, you would reduce your estate by $540,000 ($18,000 x 3 children x 10 years), potentially lowering your estate’s tax burden.