When it comes to paying taxes, death is not the end. If you have a ton of loot you want to leave your kids, spouse, a side spouse, nephew, or pet gerbil when you die, the federal government is gonna get some of it. It’s called an estate tax. It's gentle until about 11 million bucks these days and then it gets...toothy.
Rich married couples can reduce the amount of estate tax they pay by using an A-B Trust. Let’s say Joaquin and Miranda have gobs of money, but they’re getting old and their chances of dying increase daily. To lessen their tax burden, they bust out their will and establish an A-B Trust.
Because they have an A-B Trust, when one of them kicks the bucket, half the money they possess goes into a trust and the other half goes to the surviving spouse. None of this money is taxed at this point. The surviving spouse still has his or her half and still controls income from the other half that’s in the trust. When the surviving spouse keels over, her half of the money is subject to an estate tax, but the half that was put in the trust, remains in the trust—safe from tax collectors. In short, Joaquin and Miranda legally paid half the taxes they would have otherwise paid without an A-B Trust.
Related or Semi-related Video
Finance: What is a Living Trust?35 Views
Finance allah shmoop what is a living trust Well a
regular old trust is a legal vehicle into which assets
are placed so that their distribution or rather who gets
what from them when the owner of that trust dies
is legally clear How does that matter Like at all
Sounds like a lot of paperwork for more or less
the privilege that pay lawyers well if you had don't
have clarity as to who gets what When you die
the government often has the right to tax the crap
out of whatever you have left in the form of
filtering through it in a process called probate and it's
being like probed in a not a good way Anyway
probate is basically a process of figuring out if in
fact your will is your will And if you are
in fact will so living trust is one that lives
while you do when you die it gets distributed and
beyond Reducing taxes and giving clarity is the how your
dearly departed spirit wants its assets distributed A living trust
can also adjust to your moods Living trust our revokable
which means you can change your mind and revoke it
I'ii take it back after you die it becomes irrevocable
Unless you can legitimately send your spirit back from the
dead and convince a judge to let a lawyer amend
it And you can't that's just a joke you're living
trust basically comprises three sets of people you are trusting
in the form of bringing them inside your financial tent
Well the first player is you that is you are
a separate party in this some party And it is
you who creates the trust and divines who gets what
when and how you kaname yourself and potentially your spouse
as trustees beneficiaries That means that until you die at
least you are in charge And then your spouse if
you have one is in charge after you go you
know kick the bucket The likely successor trustees are your
kids So yeah the second player is the trustee the
person in charge of your assets after you die and
it's their job to be sure that your assets are
disposed of the way you want him to be Well
the trusty also deals with conflicts defending the wishes in
your trust The way that person presumes you'd want them
Defended nor example you're loving spouse the fifth one the
one who actually loved you for you all right the
third component of living trust the beneficiaries the ones who
get the one point three million dollars in proceeds from
the sale of your mansion in palo alto Yeah this
one it says nike on it That shoebox thing Yeah
they're the ones who get the house the custom range
rover with pure gold rims and passenger side ejector seat
And all of this is done in large part so
that your airs don't have to go through probate which
saves them a ton of time and money in grief
Your heirs don't want to have to live in their
cars while your assets wend their way through the government
process he's over years And the will does not have
to get filed publicly which means that even after you
are dead you can maintain privacy Generally the more assets
you have the more important it is to have a
living trust If you have booked guests now probably doesn't 00:02:55.67 --> [endTime] matter
Up Next
The Trust Indenture Act of 1939 is a set of laws designed to make financial dealings fairer for the average Joe.
What is the Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation (DTCC)? One of the largest financial services companies in the world, DTCC handles settlement o...