Arlington Trust Attorney

Here is a list of the different types of Texas trusts that our law firm routinely sets up for clients based on their individual needs.

Testamentary Trust: A Testamentary Trust is established under the provisions of a Last Will and Testament and does not become effective until the grantor has died and his will has been probated.  This allows the grantor to retain the use and benefits of the trust assets during his lifetime with the assets transferred into the trust after the grantor’s death. 

This form of trust can be effectively used when the grantor desires to leave gifts to a minor(s) and wants to designate a trustee to manage the trust assets for the benefit of the minor in accordance with the trust provisions.  This avoids the necessity for creating a guardianship to manage the assets for the minor child, which can be more costly and time consuming.  If both parents die, the Courts are required to appoint a guardian to manage a minor’s assets.  The Probate Court will only appoint a guardian after a proper proceeding. The court will not assume that appointing a family member or close friend is automatically in the best interest of the child/children.

Revocable Trust

Irrevocable Trusts

Special Needs Trusts

Charitable Trusts

Education Trusts: Many parents and grandparents want to set aside money to provide for the educational needs of their children and grandchildren.  But it is not always wise to entrust a young person with large sums of money which can be spent on other things besides an education.  Thus an Educational Trust becomes a very appropriate option for providing money for education while ensuring a mechanism to make sure the money is used wisely.

An educational trust can be funded with periodic contributions and can be funded in a way that will help avoid gift taxes.  The trust assets can be protected from the claims of creditors by including spendthrift provisions.  These provisions are incorporated into most trusts and direct that the trust assets cannot be used to pay creditors of the beneficiary. By including a spendthrift provision into a trust agreement, the trust assets are then protected.

Irrevocable Life Insurance Trusts: Life insurance policies can present estate tax problems for the person who owns the policy.  An Irrevocable Life Insurance Trust provides an alternative to owning a life insurance policy while completely excluding the proceeds from the estate for tax purposes.

Thru an Irrevocable Life Insurance Trust the ownership interest in the life insurance policy is transferred into the Trust, and the trust thereafter pays the premiums on the policy.  When the insured person dies, the proceeds of the policy are paid to the Trust instead of to the insured’s family.  Because the policy is not owned by the decedent at the time of his death, the proceeds are not included in his gross estate for purposes of computing estate taxes.

Spendthrift Trusts

Crummey Trusts

QTIP Trusts