0ur resources

0:04

the most common is revocable trusts

0:06

revocable trusts or trusts that are

0:09

created by you these are trusts that

0:12

could be amended at any time but they’re

0:14

designed to hold assets to avoid probate

0:16

to gain certain tax advantages to make

0:19

sure that assets go to children at a

0:21

defined age maybe not 18 maybe 30 35 or

0:25

later the most common type of trust is

0:28

what’s called a revocable trust the

0:30

revocable trust becomes irrevocable when

0:33

you pass away or become incompetent but

0:35

while you’re alive you can freely make

0:37

changes to it and nothing changes in

0:39

your life the only thing that you’re

0:41

going to notice that’s different is the

0:42

name on on your accounts might be

0:44

different but you’re allowed to buy and

0:46

sell assets freely you can move assets

0:48

freely there’s tremendous advantages to

0:51

doing and creating a revocable trust

0:54

other types of trusts

0:57

can get very complicated irrevocable

1:00

life insurance trusts

1:03

Grant or retained annuity trusts grats

1:06

for sure there’s a whole alphabet soup

1:08

of trusts out there that are very

1:10

complex and can definitely help our

1:13

clientele

1:14

but I’m a big fan of not over lawyering

1:17

files so if it’s something that’s not

1:19

appropriate we’re not going to do it for

1:21

you but understand that there is a

1:22

multitude of trusts out there that can

1:25

deal with the number of situations

1:26

another common trust would be a special

1:28

needs trust and so if you’re a parent

1:31

with a child with special needs or a

1:35

loved one that’s on some means-based

1:37

program such as Medicaid for example or

1:40

Social Security there are certain trusts

1:42

such as special needs trusts that can be

1:44

created to allow them to continue to

1:47

receive benefits under those government

1:49

programs but also receive certain

1:51

inheritances from family and loved ones

0:04

financial planners should know about

0:06

estate planning that

0:08

bilsky Chapman looks at this as a team

0:10

approach any individual that has

0:14

assets or family members to be

0:17

successful you need a team and that team

0:20

often includes financial advisors

0:22

accountants life insurance agents

0:25

attorneys all of those professionals

0:28

work together to create a comprehensive

0:31

plan for the client estate planning for

0:33

financial advisors is important because

0:35

while the financial advisor is concerned

0:37

about maximizing returns and increasing

0:40

net worth that is only one small part of

0:42

an estate plan and likewise we want to

0:45

help clients accumulate assets and grow

0:48

their assets and a tax advantage basis

0:51

but there’s more to an estate plan than

0:53

just finances there is care for loved

0:56

ones there’s care for children that are

0:59

under 18. there might be special desires

1:02

such as pets or certain heirlooms of a

1:05

family that go beyond just the financial

1:08

planning and aspect of a plan I think

1:12

it’s very important that a finance

1:13

planner understands that it estate

1:16

planning is a team approach

1:18

and that they need to work with a

1:20

competent attorney in order to

1:22

effectuate the goals and desires of the

0:04

so in 2012 the Supreme Court of Illinois

0:07

passed a law that said anytime a

0:10

survival act lawsuit is going to be

0:12

filed that it needs to be filed by

0:15

someone who is a court appointed

0:17

representative by a probate judge so

0:20

personal injury attorneys really need to

0:22

be aware that to have standing to file

0:24

their lawsuit they need to get a probate

0:28

estate representative appointed and

0:31

that’s where we come in we’re probate

0:33

experts we’ve been practicing in Probate

0:34

Court for 10 years we’ve handled

0:36

thousands of probate Estates for

0:39

personal injury attorneys so that they

0:41

have standing to file their lawsuit

0:43

and something else that’s really

0:45

important for personal injury attorneys

0:48

to know is that their role is as a

0:52

fiduciary not only to the their client

0:55

but also to all of the errors and

0:58

beneficiaries of the probate estate so

1:01

they’re not just representing their

1:03

client as the plaintiff in a lawsuit

1:05

they’re also representing all of the

1:08

interests of all of the people who are

1:10

going to benefit from that

1:12

representative’s probate estate so it’s

1:15

really important that for any personal

1:17

injury attorney that is interested in

1:20

bringing a lawsuit on behalf of someone

1:22

who’s injured and that lawsuit is going

1:24

to be filed after the injured person has

1:27

passed away that they are making sure to

1:31

connect with a probate attorney to make

1:33

sure that all of the proper steps are

1:35

followed in the probate process to

1:38

ensure that they have standing to file

1:39

their lawsuit

0:04

so a lot of clients who come into our

0:06

office have who have loved ones with a

0:09

disability want to make sure that that

0:12

person is protected for their whole life

0:14

financially so what they’ll do is

0:17

they’ll incorporate a provision in their

0:19

trust or in their will leaving a larger

0:24

share of their estate to that person or

0:27

leaving a certain amount of money to

0:29

that person who has a disability

0:31

what they don’t understand is that that

0:33

could put the person who they love with

0:36

a disability at risk of actually losing

0:38

eligibility for those great programs and

0:41

services that Medicaid provides what we

0:44

do is we make sure that for any clients

0:47

who have a loved one with a disability

0:49

to build in something called a Special

0:52

Needs Trust into their estate plan and

0:55

that way if our clients want to leave a

0:58

bigger share or really anything to a

1:01

loved one with a disability they can

1:04

make sure that any inheritance to that

1:06

person with a disability goes into the

1:09

Special Needs Trust rather than going to

1:12

that person with a disability outright

1:14

because those two things really make the

1:17

difference about whether someone could

1:19

be eligible for Medicaid programs or not

0:04

we have a lot of clients who are

0:07

inheriting a large sum of money which is

0:09

the first time that they’ve really had

0:10

money in their life a lot of these

0:13

clients are on programs such as Medicaid

0:16

or SSI and these are government programs

0:19

that will provide medical care that will

0:21

give them a study source of income for

0:23

their life

0:24

and the risk of inheriting a windfall is

0:28

that it puts these clients over an asset

0:31

threshold for eligibility for continuing

0:34

benefits under those programs so it’s

0:37

really important that when someone

0:38

inherits a windfall that they make sure

0:42

to identify any government benefits that

0:44

they’re currently on are they on

0:46

Medicaid are they on SSI if they’re on

0:50

either of those we can protect their

0:53

windfall inheritance by transferring it

0:56

into a Special Needs Trust in that way

0:58

they can keep their windfall and they

1:01

can keep their government benefits at

1:02

the same time

0:04

I could say that everyone needs a trust

0:06

but that would be a really generic

0:07

answer so for most folks the most

0:11

important things to look at to determine

0:13

whether you need a trust are do you have

0:16

a blended family so do you have

0:18

stepchildren or are you coming into the

0:20

into a marriage with children and you’re

0:23

going to have children with with your

0:25

new spouse another factor that people

0:28

take into account about whether they

0:30

need estate planning or not is whether

0:32

they have a loved one or a family member

0:34

with with a disability such as being on

0:36

the autism spectrum or having Down

0:38

syndrome or having a physical disability

0:41

that means that they need supportive

0:42

living care for themselves really trusts

0:45

are fantastic vehicles for anyone who

0:48

wants to Future proof their life savings

0:50

or their home there’s two steps to

0:53

estate planning first someone typically

0:56

the life cycle is someone gets a

0:58

financial advisor and that financial

1:00

advisor will help them to start the

1:02

process of accruing and Building Wealth

1:05

then we as estate planners can help that

1:08

person to Future proof that well future

1:11

proof that wealth to keep it with them

1:14

and with their loved ones sometimes we

1:18

have clients who come in who have

1:20

younger children maybe they’re in their

1:23

teens or maybe they’re in their early

1:25

20s and these are children who are

1:28

likely to get married in the future

1:29

maybe they want to go to grad school in

1:31

the future so our clients want to make

1:34

sure that the inheritance that they’re

1:37

leaving their children doesn’t get split

1:40

up between divorcing spouses so half of

1:43

the child’s inheritance in other words

1:45

wouldn’t go to their divorcing spouse or

1:48

all of their inheritance wouldn’t go to

1:50

student loan debt so in that way we

1:53

really help our clients to make sure

1:56

that through a trust the money that

1:58

they’ve spent a life building stays with

2:01

them and the people that they wanted to

2:03

go to