Rolling Meadows Trusts Attorney

A trust can simplify the probate process, help you save money on taxes, and enable you to provide for your descendants. A Rolling Meadows trusts lawyer can help you set up the right kind of trust for you.

When you hear about trusts in the news or in movies, it is usually in the context of very wealthy people hoarding their wealth or privileged young adults who fund their luxurious celebutante lifestyles with money from a family trust. Trusts are a way of keeping your money safe, but they are not only for people with astronomical levels of wealth. A Rolling Meadows trusts lawyer can show you the ways that a trust could be beneficial to your estate plan.

How Does a Trust Work?

A trust is a separate legal entity that controls the assets deposited into it by the person who set up the trust. From a legal standpoint, setting up a trust is a lot like establishing a company. These are the dramatis personae involved in a trust:

• Grantor – the person who sets up the trust and deposits their assets into it, also known as the settlor
• Trustee- a person who has the legal authority to dispense money from the trust, much like an employee of a company who has the right to sign checks drawn on its account
• Successor trustee- a person who will act as the trustee after the original trustee dies
• Beneficiary – a person or organization that receives money from the trust

When you set up a trust, you are its grantor. It is also possible for you to be a trustee or beneficiary of the trust.

The Different Types of Trusts in Illinois Law

Illinois law recognizes various types of trusts. Which one you want to set up depends on your financial circumstances and those of your family. These are the most common types of trusts with which Rolling Meadows estate planning lawyers assist clients:

• Revocable trust – You can make changes to the trust throughout your life.
• Irrevocable trust – You cannot make changes to the trust once you set it up. Most people who set up irrevocable trusts do it so that, for tax purposes, many of their valuable assets do not legally belong to them.
• Testamentary trust – The grantor’s will gives instructions about this trust, which will be established after the grantor dies.
• Spendthrift trust – This kind of trust dispenses money to your heirs slowly over time, so they do not blow through their inheritance quickly.
• Special needs trust – The beneficiary of this trust is an adult with disabilities, and the purpose of the trust is to provide for their expenses and care.
• Charitable trust – The beneficiary of this trust is one or more charitable organizations.

Contact the Rolling Meadows Trusts Lawyer at Andrea Heckman Law

A Rolling Meadows estate planning and trusts lawyer can help you save money on taxes and ensure stress-free probate for your estate. Contact Andrea Heckman Law in Rolling Meadows, Illinois, to create the right kind of trust for you.