King & Wood, P.A.

Does an Estate Plan Improve Retirement?

“These estate and legacy planning tools and strategies can help lower your taxes, protect your wealth and more, leaving you to relax during your golden years.”

Estate planning is more than determining who you want to inherit your worldly goods. It’s about planning for taxes, protecting yourself while alive and making life easier for heirs by streamlining asset transfers. A recent article from Kiplinger, aptly titled “Here’s How Estate Planning Can Make Your Retirement Easier,” explains it in detail.

Trusts are used to protect assets and are widely considered the most effective tools for estate planning. Timing matters in estate planning. If you might need to apply for Medicaid for long-term care, keep in mind there is a five-year look-back period. Trusts need to be funded for at least five years before assets are considered exempt for Medicaid purposes.

Let’s say you establish a trust when you turn 70 but need long-term care at age 73. Medicaid won’t consider you eligible until age 75. We can’t know when we will need long-term care. However, planning ahead makes applying for Medicaid better than dealing with an application during a health crisis. Talk with your estate planning attorney about a Medicaid Asset Protection Trust to see if this might be a good fit.

Life insurance is often used to help with estate taxes. While most of us aren’t likely to worry about estate taxes while the federal exemption remains high, there are still state estate taxes and some state inheritance taxes to consider. The federal estate tax exemption may not sunset in 2026. However, a life insurance policy may be an option for your family if it does. Today’s life insurance policies are often combined with long-term healthcare coverage, which is always a wise option as we age.

Beneficiary designations are an often-overlooked estate planning pitfall with costly consequences. If you’ve named someone on an account as the beneficiary, they will receive the asset, regardless of what your will says. If you neglect to update your beneficiary designations, it will be next to impossible for other heirs to get the assets, even if they do go to court. This is an easy thing to fix. Review beneficiary designations every time you review your estate planning documents.

Estate and retirement planning doesn’t end once you have a plan in place. Both estate plans and retirement plans need to be monitored and updated. Tax laws change, markets fluctuate and personal circumstances change.

Regular reviews of your estate planning with your estate planning attorney every three to five years will allow you to ensure that your wishes are current, and no opportunities have been missed. Regular updates will ensure that beneficiaries are correct, trusts are funded properly and your will is still aligned with your state’s laws.

Reference: Kiplinger (Feb. 18, 2025) “Here’s How Estate Planning Can Make Your Retirement Easier”

Living Your Best Life Solo? You Still Need an Estate Plan

“A recent study found that 34 percent of older adults do not have a spouse, significant other or children who can provide their care.”

Whether relying on informal networks of “found” family, trusted friends, or professionals, solo agers must plan for the inevitable aging events. A recent article, “Solo Aging: Planning for Your Best Life,” from The National Law Journal, shares the details.

Most importantly, decisions about health care and end-of-life care need to be documented as part of your estate plan, and a person you trust implicitly needs to be named in the role of your healthcare proxy. You’ll need to make sure they are comfortable in this role and willing to enact your wishes, even if they disagree with them. They will also need to have access to the estate planning documents needed, including a Healthcare Power of Attorney, Living Will, HIPAA Release and any other documents your state may require.

You’ll also want to have a Power of Attorney prepared by an experienced estate planning attorney, naming a primary and a secondary person to manage your financial and legal life if you become incapacitated. If your candidates are around the same age as you, remember they may not be able to act when you need them to, so, if possible, name younger people to serve if they cannot.

Think beyond the basics. Depending upon where you live, you may want to have a POLST (Practitioner Order on Life-Sustaining Treatment) or MOLST (Medical Orders for Life-Sustaining Treatment) to state your wishes regarding life-sustaining treatment. Some people do not wish to have CPR performed on them in the event of a cardiac arrest and have a DNR (Do Not Resuscitate) document.

You’ll want to have a financial care plan to address emergencies. Seniors 65 and older are nearly 70% likely to need some long-term care in the next two or three decades of their life. If you don’t already own a Long-Term Care insurance policy, it’s time to consider whether you can purchase one. These are now often sold as part of a life insurance policy.

A last will and testament is needed to direct the disposition of your possessions after you die. If you don’t have one, your state’s laws will govern who receives your assets. Even if you have a long-standing relationship with a partner or best friend, they have no legal rights to inherit your property. A distant relative may be located by the court and inherit everything you own instead.

A last will is used to name an executor to manage your estate. This person will be responsible for more than distributing your assets. They are also tasked with gathering information about financial accounts, applying for a tax ID number for your estate bank account, gathering assets and placing them into the estate bank account, paying your final taxes, notifying Social Security of your passing, and filing an estate tax return.

Today’s estate plan includes planning for digital assets, so your social media accounts, emails, online photos and videos, gaming, subscriptions, cryptocurrency, and all other digital accounts are managed.

For the solo ager, having an estate plan protects you while you are living and protects your estate after you have passed. It takes some extra steps when compared to the planning done by married people. However, the peace of mind of expressing your wishes is the same, and you deserve this.

Reference: The National Law Journal (Jan. 10, 2025) “Solo Aging: Planning for Your Best Life”

How to Prepare for Cognitive Changes in Your Life

Plan for the possibility of cognitive decline and the future of your household's financial affairs.

Planning for the cognitive decline that often accompanies aging can prevent expensive mistakes, says a recent article from U.S. News & World Report, “How to Minimize 4 Financial Management Disasters That Come With Aging.” Planning for cognitive decline can make our later years less stressful.

Age and Vulnerability to Financial Elder Abuse. Simple tasks like paying bills can become problematic as our cognitive abilities diminish. This also leaves people more susceptible to fraud and scammers—today’s thieves’ prey on the elderly through telephone, online, mail and in-person schemes. Add a layer of protection by having a trusted person or family member oversee accounts. A professional fiduciary or a bill-pay service could be used if no family member is available or trustworthy enough.

Freezing a senior’s credit with major credit bureaus can make it harder for thieves to steal their identity, take out loans, or open credit cards under their names.

Financial documents should be organized, and their location should be shared with loved ones. Your estate planning attorney, financial advisor and CPA should have the contact info of a trusted person who can step in to manage your affairs, if necessary. Your estate planning attorney can create a Financial Power of Attorney, so they can act on your behalf.

You can appoint a representative payee with the Social Security Administration, so another person can help you with Social Security matters.

The Death or Disability of the Family’s Financial Person. One person in the household very often runs the business side of life, paying bills, balancing checkbooks and keeping an eye on investments. If that person dies or becomes disabled, the spouse needs to be able to take over finances. To do this, they’ll need to know more than the usernames and passwords on accounts—although they’ll need to know this information as well. Regular check-ins on financial matters with a spouse and a trusted adult is a good practice.

Planning for Long-Term Care Expenses. Failing to prepare for the cost of long-term care or to protect a couple’s assets with Medicaid planning can be financially catastrophic. Medicaid can help with the cost of nursing home care. However, if the family has assets, they must be used up before the person is eligible for care. Medicaid also has a five-year lookback period, meaning any transfers or sales of assets taking place five years from the date of application will delay eligibility. An estate planning attorney can help with the use of irrevocable trusts, often referred to as Medicaid Asset Protection Trusts. There are also trusts designed to protect assets for the healthy spouse. A consultation with an estate planning attorney long before long-term care is needed is critical to avoiding this mistake.

Outliving Your Money. Experts believe nearly two-thirds of Americans nearing retirement age are unprepared for two, three, or even four decades of retirement. The past year’s skyrocketing costs of living have prevented many from adding to their savings during the end of their working lives, and many don’t even have emergency savings. Having a financial plan and an estate plan is important at every age and stage of life.

Cognitive changes don’t happen to everyone as they age. However, it is still wise to have your estate planning done long before any changes occur. Having a will and any necessary trusts created and executed while you are at full capacity allows you to be the one making these decisions.

Reference: U.S. News & World Report (June 26, 2024) “How to Minimize 4 Financial Management Disasters That Come With Aging”

Caregiving and Estate Planning Provides Peace of Mind for All Generations

“With so many responsibilities on a farming or ranching operation, caregiving plans can often get overlooked until it’s too late.”

If your goal is to keep the farm, ranch, or small business in the family, planning, including estate planning and caregiving, is the number one strategy to making it happen. Families may dissolve the farm or business without advance planning to pay for long-term care expenses. A recent article from AgWeek, “Caregiving plans can provide peace of mind for farming and ranching families,” explains what needs to be done.

Part of the issue is that most ranchers and business owners won’t qualify for Medicaid because they own a significant asset. Having to sell off something they’ve worked their entire lives to build is often a result of no planning.

If you have a long-term care insurance policy, it needs to be carefully reviewed to determine what conditions need to be met for benefits to be paid. For example, most policies have a “waiting period,” so you’ll need to plan how to pay for caregiving during the months before the policy kicks in.

There’s also confusion about the difference between Medicare and Medicaid. Medicare is health insurance for medical expenses, while Medicaid is usually used for long-term care and caregiving needs. However, Medicaid is a needs-based program. An estate planning attorney can help the family determine what needs to happen in advance, whether the goal is to protect the farm, ranch, or small business while helping the aging parent become eligible for Medicaid.

Estate planning includes planning for incapacity, which can occur at any time but is more likely as we age. Suppose the individual hasn’t completed a power of attorney, healthcare power of attorney, and other medical directives. In that case, the family will need to go to court to obtain conservatorship or guardianship to take over the person’s financial matters and make healthcare decisions on their behalf. An estate planning attorney can help the family prepare the documents and create a plan.

Having an estate plan in place is also another means of protecting the family’s assets from elder abuse. Everything needs to be documented, and records need to be well-organized so every family member knows where documents are, where assets are and the plan for the inevitable events of aging.

Meeting with an estate planning attorney to create the last will and testament, power of attorney and all other planning documents can minimize the stress and costs involved. Without planning, everything becomes far more complicated, costly and stressful for all concerned.

Reference: AgWeek (May 14, 2024) “Caregiving plans can provide peace of mind for farming and ranching families”

How Does a Living Trust Protect Your Legacy

“A living trust won't be for everyone. However, it can provide big benefits for some. Many people use a living trust for one big reason: avoiding probate. However, there are other reasons you should seriously consider.”

Want to leave assets of any kind to loved ones? You’ll need to plan ahead. There are a number of options used to pass wealth to the next generation, including a last will and testament. This is a legal document designating someone to be in charge of your estate after you die and telling them how you want your assets to be divided.

Another means of passing assets along is explained in the recent article from The Motley Fool, “3 Reasons to Seriously Consider Using a Living Trust to Pass Inheritance to Your Family.” A living trust is a legal entity created while you are living to hold assets and designates someone to manage and disburse them based on specific directions in the trust document. You don’t have to be wealthy to have a trust.

While these two instruments sound similar, they have unique elements, making one better than another in certain situations. For many people, a living trust can benefit the individual making the trust (the grantor) and their families. Here are a few to consider.

Maintaining privacy. Wills must go through probate, a court-supervised process to review the decedent’s assets, approve their executor and rule on the will's validity. Because the will is under the court's review, it becomes public information. In most jurisdictions, anyone who wants to see your will can. They can also see who received what assets.

If you have concerns about maintaining your privacy or the privacy of your heirs, it may be worthwhile to create a trust. This will keep your assets and your heir’s receipt of assets private. The only people who know what’s in a trust are the grantor, the trustee who manages the trust and the beneficiaries.

Avoiding long delays. Since a trust doesn’t go through probate, it may be possible for the trustee to make distributions of assets much faster. The executor typically needs to file the will for probate and wait for the process to be concluded. Only then can they carry out the directions of a will.

When assets are in a trust, the trustee can implement the terms of the trust more quickly. This can significantly help loved ones, especially if they have paid for long-term care, hospital bills, funeral expenses, etc. If they were relying on an inheritance to cover these costs, the faster the trust can reimburse them, the better.

Managing assets if you become incapacitated. One of the biggest advantages of having a trust over a will is its value during your lifetime. A will doesn’t take effect until you die. On the other hand, a living trust with a successor trustee allows the successor to manage the trust if you become incapacitated and cannot serve as the primary trustee.

Whether you have a trust or not, you will want to name a Power of Attorney who will manage your financial and legal affairs if you cannot do so. However, financial institutions can be challenging when dealing with a POA.

Changing the trustee does not impact the trust’s status as a separate legal entity. The successor trustee steps in, and financial institutions will generally be on notice as long as the initial trust documents specify who the successor trustee will be.

Talk with your estate planning attorney about using a living trust as part of your estate plan. It may be wise to use a combination of a will and a trust to achieve your desired outcome. Do remember estate planning is not just for what happens after you die but for preparing to care for yourself and your family while you are living. A living trust could serve you and your family well, during life and after death.

Reference: The Motley Fool (Oct. 31, 2023) “3 Reasons to Seriously Consider Using a Living Trust to Pass Inheritance to Your Family”

Selling the Family Home When Moving into New Living Situation

“Selling a home when a loved one decides to move into an assisted living facility can present some emotional aspects that will not necessarily be present when selling one’s own home.”

When an aging relative decides the time is right to move into an assisted living or continuing care facility, families face many decisions. This is often a difficult but necessary step for older individuals with trouble living independently or planning for their future needs. A recent article from Herald—Standard, “How to handle selling a home when moving into an assisted living facility,” offers suggestions to help families navigate the process.

First, speak with an estate planning attorney to have a trusted, responsible family member be named Power of Attorney. Individuals moving into assisted living may not have any cognitive problems at the time of the move. However, selling a home for a family member who develops dementia can present complex challenges. Only a person with legal capacity may transfer their home to a new owner. Having a Power of Attorney allows a family member to step in and manage the transaction without needing to go to court and have a guardian named.

Talk about the situation and the sale with the aging family member. They will need time to process the idea of selling their home and moving. Homeowners make untold sacrifices and compromises to buy and maintain their homes, so the decision to sell a beloved home is almost always very difficult and brings out a range of emotions.

Throughout this process, an open and honest dialogue about what can be achieved by selling the home and improving their quality of life will be helpful.

Sorting through belongings is an extremely hard task. A lifetime of memories and a loss of their independence are all wrapped up in the contents of a home. It will be impossible to take the entire contents into a one or two-bedroom apartment. Take the time to sort through belongings with your family members and select certain items to give them a sense of home in a smaller space.

If possible, try to pass on some items to younger family members. Most importantly, handle this process with as much compassion as possible.

Keep all relevant people involved and current throughout the process. This is particularly important if the family members are scattered in different states. Adult children who live far away and can’t be active participants in this process shouldn’t be dismissed and left out. Open communication with other family members will minimize the chances of objections when the sale and move take place.

Finally, because this is perhaps the largest and last financial transaction, make sure the sale of their home is done with an eye to their estate plan. There may be ways to minimize tax exposure for the individual and their estate plan. Confer with an estate planning attorney to avoid any missteps.

Reference: Herald-Standard (Oct. 27, 2023) “How to handle selling a home when moving into an assisted living facility”

How Can a Trust Be Used for Long-Term Care?

“They may wish they had applied for long-term-care insurance when they were healthy enough to pass the medical underwriting standards.”

More than a few seniors who are retired or nearing retirement lose sleep worrying over being able to afford the expense of long-term care, including nursing home care, which can cost thousands monthly. The fallback option for many Americans is Medicaid; according to a recent article, “Long-Term-Care planning using trusts,” from the Journal of Accountancy., Medicaid is a joint federal-state program requiring spending down assets.

To be eligible for long-term care through Medicaid, a person’s “countable” assets must fall below an extremely low ceiling—in some states, no more than $2,000, with some provisions in some states protecting the “well” spouse. States vary in terms of which assets are counted, with many exempting a primary residence, for example.

For many people, planning for Medicaid for long-term care may consider the use of an irrevocable trust. The basic idea is this: by transferring assets to an irrevocable trust at least five years before applying for Medicaid for long-term care, the Medicaid agency will not count those assets in determining whether Medicaid’s asset ceiling is satisfied.

If the planning is done wrong, there is a risk of not qualifying, thereby defeating the objective of creating the irrevocable trust. In addition, any tax planning may be undone, causing liquidity and other problems.

Some people plan to qualify for Medicaid even though they have asset levels as high as $2 million or more. Much of this may be the family’s primary residence, especially in locations like New York City, with its elevated real estate market. Costs at nursing homes are equally high, with nursing homes costing private-pay patients upwards of $20,000 a month, or $250,000 per year.

Timing is a key part of planning for Medicaid. Many estate planning attorneys recommend clients consider planning in their mid-to-late 60s or early 70s to move assets into a Medicaid Asset Preservation Trust, also called a Medicaid Asset Protection Trust.

This is because of Medicaid’s five-year lookback period. Most states have a five-year look-back period for both nursing home and home health care. If any transfer of countable assets has been made within the preceding five years of applying for long-term-care Medicaid, there will be a penalty period when the person or their family must pay for the care. The penalty is typically measured by the length of time the transferred assets could have paid for care, based on the average costs of the state or the region.

While there is no way to know when a person will need long-term care, statistically speaking, a person in their mid-to-late 60s or early 70s can expect to be healthy enough to satisfy the five-year lookback.

Why not simply make gifts to children during this time to become eligible for Medicaid? For one reason, there’s no way to prevent a child from spending money given to them for safekeeping. A trust will protect assets from a child’s creditors, and if the child should undergo a divorce, the assets won’t end up in the ex-spouse’s bank accounts.

Using a trust for Medicaid planning could be combined with gifts made to children or assets placed in trust for children, depending on the individual’s financial and familial circumstances.

The creation of a Medicaid Asset Preservation Trust is critical. The estate planning attorney must seek to accomplish two things: one, to say to Medicaid that the settlor, or creator of the trust, no longer owns the assets. At the same time, the IRS must see that the settlor still owns these assets and, therefore, receives a basis step-up at death.

An experienced estate planning attorney will be needed to advise you and create a Medicaid Asset Preservation Trust to meet the Medicaid and IRS requirements.

Reference: Journal of Accountancy (Oc. 9, 2023) “Long-Term-Care planning using trusts”

Unmarried? What You Need to Know about Estate Planning

“Unmarried couples don’t receive the same legal protections as married couples when it comes to inheritance and taxes.”

Unmarried couples must engage in estate planning because, without proper planning, their partner may be left with nothing when the first partner dies. Details of protecting partners are explained in a recent article, “BUSINESS: Unmarried Couples and Estate Planning,” from The Item.

For married couples, the spouse is usually the first to inherit, followed by children, parents, siblings, and other relatives, depending on who is still living. However, if you’re unmarried and no plans have been made, your partner receives nothing. In fact, in many states, the law doesn’t recognize unmarried couples at all.

Life insurance policies and retirement accounts could go to your estate if no designated beneficiary is named. This could lead to probate, a complicated and costly legal process where the court decides how assets should be distributed.

To avoid these and many other problems, having an estate plan to take care of your partner is best. This includes making a Will, naming beneficiaries for life insurance and retirement accounts and clearly stating your intentions in legally enforceable documents. This protects your partner’s rights and ensures your assets are distributed according to your wishes.

Married partners have the advantage of gifts, as they can give each other unlimited amounts of money or property without worrying about gift tax. However, there are limits to how much unmarried partners may give without facing gift tax exclusions, also known as the annual exclusion.

If you gift your partner more than the annual exclusion amount in a year, you must file a federal gift tax return and report the excess amount. The rules for federal estate tax are quite similar to the gift tax rules.

When married people die, they may leave an unlimited amount of money and property to each other without worrying about federal estate tax. However, any money or property left to an unmarried partner will count towards your lifetime exclusion amount.

Once this exclusion amount is exceeded, an estate tax will be due when the giver passes away. In 2023, the lifetime gift and estate tax exemption is $12.92 million, and the annual exclusion is $17,000. This amount will change over time because of inflation.

There are also personal matters to think about. You’ll want to designate someone to handle financial and legal transactions and make medical decisions on your behalf if you cannot do so. If you don’t choose a trusted person for these roles and have the appropriate documents created, your partner may not be included in these decisions. If you don’t have a good relationship with your family, this could create a situation where your partner is shunted aside.

What can you do? Meet with an experienced estate planning attorney and create a Will to protect your wishes after you pass. Have a Power of Attorney and Medical Power of Attorney created, so your partner can make decisions on your behalf if you become incapacitated. Doublecheck your beneficiary designations to be sure the person who will receive proceeds from your life insurance and retirement accounts is the person you want. If you own a home together, talk with your estate planning attorney to plan for what will happen if one of you needs long-term care or predeceases the other.

Reference: The Item (Aug. 26, 2023) “BUSINESS: Unmarried Couples and Estate Planning”

IRS Changes Rule on Inheritance Taxes

“The agency has curbed the tax break on a particular kind of trust that is often used to minimize capital gains taxes.”

The IRS has changed the rules regarding taxes on inheritances, curbing the tax break on a particular kind of trust often used to minimize estate taxes. According to the article “IRS quietly changes rule on how your children’s inheritance is taxed” from The Daily Mail, the agency has clarified how irrevocable trusts are taxed.

Before Revenue Ruling 2023-2, it was unclear what the tax policies were around assets passing to beneficiaries through an irrevocable trust. However, the ruling has confirmed that these trusts will now be subject to capital gains tax, significantly impacting estate planning.

Assets distributed during a person’s lifetime are typically subject to capital gains taxes on the increase in value of the asset over time. The tax is determined largely by the difference between how much the asset was worth when it was purchased and the value at the time it was transferred.

The exception to this rule has been when assets are passed to beneficiaries at the time of an individual’s death. The owner's death gives the recipients a “step-up in basis,” so they inherit the asset as if it had been purchased at the current value rather than when it was purchased. This eliminates any capital gains taxes.

Before the new ruling, transfers from irrevocable trusts generally received this tax break. The ruling now states that any property held in an irrevocable trust not included in the taxable estate at death will no longer receive a step-up basis.

This new rule must be considered to avoid substantial costs to heirs.

Let’s say a couple purchased a home in 1975 for $100,000, and the home is now worth $250,000. If they want to sell the home, the couple will owe capital gains on the $150,000 increase in value. Before the ruling, if they transferred their home into an irrevocable trust, the trust could sell the home from a cost basis of $250,000, and there would be no capital gains due if the proceeds were distributed to their children.

The ruling doesn’t mean trusts are no longer useful. However, planning needs to be more careful, with the help of an experienced estate planning attorney.

It is now critical to be sure any trust included in the taxable estate at death uses correct wording, so the value of the assets is included in the taxable estate.

Most families will not yet find themselves subject to federal estate tax, even if the value of their home is included because the current federal estate tax exemption is $12.92 per individual. However, in 2026 the estate tax limit will be lowered to about half that amount.

Seek advice from an experienced estate planning attorney to protect heirs from this important change from the IRS.

Reference: Daily Mail (July 5, 2023) “IRS quietly changes rule on how your children’s inheritance is taxed”

Planning for Long-Term Care with Irrevocable Trusts

“With the possibility of needing long-term care in the future, many people are interested in proactive planning.”

One of the best strategies to plan for long-term care involves using an irrevocable trust. However, the word “irrevocable” makes people a little wary. It shouldn’t. The use of the Intentionally Defective Grantor Trust, a type of irrevocable trust, provides both protection and flexibility, explains the article “Despite the name, irrevocable trusts provide flexibility” from The News-Enterprise.

Trusts are created by an estate planning attorney for each individual and their circumstances. Therefore, the provisions in one kind of trust may not be appropriate for another person, even when the situation appears to be the same on the surface. The flexibility provisions explored here are commonly used in Intentionally Defective Grantor Trusts, referred to as IDGTs.

Can the grantor change beneficiaries in an IDGT? The grantor, the person setting up the trust, can reserve a testamentary power of appointment, a special right allowing grantors to change after-death beneficiaries.

This power can also hold the trust assets in the grantors’ taxable estate, allowing for the stepped-up tax basis on appreciated property.

Depending on how the trust is created, the grantor may only have the right to change beneficiaries for a portion or all of the property. If the grantor wants to change beneficiaries, they must make that change in their will.

Can money or property from the trust be removed if needed later? IDGT trusts should always include both lifetime beneficiaries and after-death beneficiaries. After death, beneficiaries receive a share of assets upon the grantor’s death when the estate is distributed. Lifetime beneficiaries have the right to receive property during the grantor’s lifetime.

While grantors may retain the right to receive income from the trust, lifetime beneficiaries can receive the principal. This is particularly important if the trust includes a liquid account that needs to be gifted to the beneficiary to assist a parent.

The most important aspect? The lifetime beneficiary may receive the property and not the grantor. The beneficiary can then use the gifted property to help a parent.

An often-asked question of estate planning attorneys concerns what would happen if tax laws changed in the future. It’s a reasonable question.

If an irrevocable trust needs a technical change, the trust must go before a court to determine if the change can be made. However, most estate planning attorneys include a trust protector clause within the trust to maintain privacy and expediency.

A trust protector is a third party who is neither related nor subordinate to the grantor, serves as a fiduciary, and can sign off on necessary changes. Trust protectors serve as “fixers” and are used to ensure that the trust can operate as the grantors intended. They are not frequently used, but they offer flexibility for legislative changes.

Irrevocable trusts are an excellent way to protect assets when drafted with both protection and flexibility in mind.

Reference: The News-Enterprise (March 18, 2023) “Despite the name, irrevocable trusts provide flexibility”