Trusts

Trust and Estate Planning Attorney in Connecticut

Trusts are important creations used in estate planning to minimize estate tax, facilitate the transfer of property ownership, and control your wealth. A properly crafted trust allows your heirs immediate use of assets without having to wait for the probate process. To determine the type of trust that is right for you, contact the law office of John M. Gasidlo, Esq. to set up an appointment with a skilled estate planning lawyer.

Trusts serve an important role in any comprehensive estate plan. While they do not avoid probate entirely, they can definitely minimize its costs and help you preserve a certain amount of control over your estate's future. From our Westport location, we help create simple or complex to meet the needs of people throughout Connecticut:

• Living Revocable Trust: This is a living trust that you create during your lifetime. It is revocable because you can revoke the trust at any time.
  
  
• Marital Deduction Trust (Revocable): These are trusts that allow you to transfer property to a surviving spouse without paying taxes.
  
  
• Irrevocable "Crummy" Trust: A trust that qualifies for the $12,000 yearly tax exclusion.
  
  
• Irrevocable Special Needs Trust: This is a trust created for a disabled individual to ensure that they will have necessary financial resources while still qualifying for government benefits.
  
  
• Irrevocable Generation Skipping Trust: This trust is designed to allow a generation the use and enjoyment of a trust without tax consequences.
  
  
• Irrevocable QPRT Trust (Residential): This trust allows a person to transfer ownerships into a trust while remaining in the property.
  
  
• Irrevocable Life insurance Trust: This trust is designed to exclude the proceeds of a life insurance policy from the taxable assets of an estate.
  
  
• Irrevocable Education Trust: This is a type of trust where you contribute to a person's higher education expenses. The beneficiary can withdraw money from this trust tax-free.
  
  
• GRAT (Grantor Retained Annuity Trust): This is a trust where a grantor transfers property into a trust and in return receives an income from a fixed annuity.

Trusts help you avoid the hassle of setting up executor and conservator bank accounts and the payment of unnecessary estate taxes. To learn more about the significance of trusts and trust administration, contact us at the law office of John M. Gasidlo, Esq. We represent clients throughout Connecticut, including people in New Canaan, Norwalk, and Fairfield.