A trust is a legal arrangement where someone holds property for someone else’s benefit under rules you write. That is a broad definition because trusts do very different jobs. A revocable living trust is mostly about avoiding probate and managing assets if you become incapacitated. An irrevocable trust is about protection, and it asks you to give up control to get it.
The common mistake is not choosing the wrong kind. It is signing a trust and never funding it. An unfunded trust is an expensive binder on a shelf, because a trust only controls what has actually been retitled into it, and the deed, the accounts, and the beneficiary designations are where that happens.
Trusts also solve problems a will cannot. A properly designed and administered supplemental needs trust may supplement a beneficiary’s care while preserving eligibility for some means-tested benefits. The result depends on the trust type and terms, funding, distributions, administration, program rules, and current law. A trust can hold a share for a young adult who is not ready to manage it outright.
The articles below compare trusts and wills, explain funding, and cover special needs and asset protection trusts in Virginia. To discuss which fits your family, see our estate planning services.
