One type of trust that will protect your assets from your creditors is called an irrevocable trust. Once you establish an irrevocable trust, you no longer legally own the assets you used to fund it and can no longer control how those assets are distributed.
Irrevocable trust
Most trusts can be irrevocable. This type of trust can help protect your assets from creditors and lawsuits and reduce your estate taxes.
The advantages of placing your house in a trust include avoiding probate court, saving on estate taxes and possibly protecting your home from certain creditors. Disadvantages include the cost of creating the trust and the paperwork. Take a look at the pros and cons of creating a trust before you put your house into it.
Can Creditors Garnish a Trust? Yes, judgment creditors may be able to garnish assets in some situations. However, the amount they can collect in California is limited to the distributions the debtor/beneficiary is entitled to receive from the trust.
Generally, trusts in California can help shield assets only from future creditors of third party beneficiaries for whose benefit the trusts are created. California limits a person's ability to create a trust for his own benefit and shield those assets from creditors.
Additionally, the assets placed in an irrevocable trust cannot be pursued by creditors seeking payment of debt. If an irrevocable trust was signed with the intention of defrauding creditors, however, legal repercussions may be enforced.
Unless they hold security, those creditors do not have direct access to trust assets. They only have indirect access, by being subrogated to the trustee's right of exoneration. There is no special insolvency regime applicable to trusts and trustees.
Instead of changing legal title, as is usually the case, settlors of mortgaged properties must keep hold of their legal title. But they can still create a declaration of trust which dictates that their remaining equity (or a proportion of this) is to be held for the trust.
With your property in trust, you typically continue to live in your home and pay the trustees a nominal rent, until your transfer to residential care when that time comes. Placing the property in trust may also be a way of helping your surviving beneficiaries avoid inheritance tax liabilities.
While there are many benefits to putting your home in a trust, there are also a few disadvantages. For one, establishing a trust is time-consuming and can be expensive. The person establishing the trust must file additional legal paperwork and pay corresponding legal fees.
With that said, revocable trusts, irrevocable trusts, and asset protection trusts are among some of the most common types to consider. Not only that, but these trusts offer long-term benefits that can strengthen your estate plan and successfully protect your assets.
In many cases, you need a Trust in California if you are a homeowner. The reason for this is because property values are so high in most of the state that you may need extra protection over how your asset is handled after your death. Creating a Trust can help your property remain with a loved one.
While a Trustee has a duty to pay debts, a Trustee does NOT have a duty to pay the debt themselves. In other words, a Trustee may use all the Trust assets to pay debts (assuming that is required), but they need not pay the Trust debts from their own pocket.
There are several benefits of creating a trust. The chief advantage is to avoid probate. Placing your important assets in a trust can offer you the peace of mind of knowing assets will be passed onto the beneficiary you designate, under the conditions you choose, and without first undergoing a drawn-out legal process.
One type of trust that will protect your assets from your creditors is called an irrevocable trust. Once you establish an irrevocable trust, you no longer legally own the assets you used to fund it and can no longer control how those assets are distributed.
The bottom line is that you can freely transfer your mortgaged property to a revocable trust (to avoid probate) or an irrevocable trust (to protect your home from Medicaid) without fear of having to pay off the mortgage.
When mortgaged property is transferred into a living trust, the mortgage holder's lien will remain on the property unless the trust requires the mortgage to be paid off before distribution to the beneficiary.
Individuals can write out their own, and use someone else as a witness. However, this may have errors or not be a legally binding document. The investment of getting a deed of trust when buying a property is often worth it in the long term.
To open a bank account that no creditor can touch, a person can (1) use an exempt bank account, (2) establish a bank account in a state that prohibits garnishments, (3) open an offshore bank account, or (4) maintain a wage or government benefits account.
Why Creditors Can Go After Assets in a Revocable Living Trust. Revocable living trusts don't, however, protect your assets from people with legal claims against you. That's because although the trust is a legal entity, for liability purposes you're treated as the owner of the trust assets.
The only three times you might want to consider creating an irrevocable trust is when you want to (1) minimize estate taxes, (2) become eligible for government programs, or (3) protect your assets from your creditors.
This rule generally prohibits the IRS from levying any assets that you placed into an irrevocable trust because you have relinquished control of them. It is critical to your financial health that you consider the tax and legal obligations associated with trusts before committing your assets to a trust.
A revocable trust can be changed at any time by the grantor during their lifetime, as long as they are competent. An irrevocable trust usually can't be changed without a court order or the approval of all the trust's beneficiaries. This makes an irrevocable trust less flexible.