Most Common Trust Mistakes

Oklahoma City living trust attorneys can help you to decide if you should create a trust as part of your incapacity plan or your legacy plan. If the creation of a trust is the best choice for you to accomplish your goals, the legal team at Parman & Easterday can provide assistance going through the formalities of the trust creation process so you can ensure that you get the expected protections from a trust. 

Trusts are a versatile and powerful legal tool that can be used to accomplish a lot of important goals related to protecting your assets and protecting your family. Unfortunately, if you make a mistake in trust creation, you may not discover the error until it is too late for you to correct the problem and, as a result, you may not get the benefits the trust was supposed to offer.

Working with Oklahoma City living trust attorneys at Parman & Easterday can help to ensure that does not occur. You should give us a call to find out about the personalized assistance our firm can offer you. You can also read on to discover some important information you need to know about common errors people make during the process of creating a trust.

Choosing The Wrong Kind Of Trust

There are multiple different kinds of trusts that could be created including irrevocable trusts and living trusts. You can also make a specialized type of trust such as a special needs trust for a disabled loved one. Not all trusts function in the same way or provide the same protections, so you’ll need to ensure you select a trust type that meets your needs.

Naming The Wrong Trustee

The trustee you select will be responsible for overseeing the trust administration process and for ensuring that trusts assets are managed appropriately if you become incapacitated or pass away. The trustee has a fiduciary duty to the beneficiaries of the trust, which is the highest duty owed, and the trustee can be held legally liable for breaching that duty. However, you don’t want problems to arise so you need to understand the role the trustee will play and make smart choices when you select your trustee.

Failing To Understand The Protections And Limitations Of Your Trust

Many people have mistaken beliefs about what a trust can do for them, and often don’t find out until it is too late. For example, if you want to make a trust to protect your assets in case you need to qualify for means-tested Medicaid to pay for nursing home care, creating a revocable living trust would not provide the protection you were hoping for. You should work with an experienced attorney to determine how best to protect your wealth in case you end up having to go into a nursing home as you age.

Not Following Formalities In Trust Creation

You want to ensure that the trust you create is legally valid.  If you made mistakes in the trust creation process and the trust is not recognized, you could lose all of the benefits that the trust was supposed to provide.

This problem, like making the wrong kind of trust, may not be discovered until it is too late for you to correct the error. The assets you were attempting to protect by creating the trust could be at risk of loss as a result of making an error when creating the trust. Working with an experienced attorney can help to ensure that this does not occur.

Failing To Fund The Trust

Simply creating a trust does not complete your tasks if you want to protect your assets. You also need to go through the process of transferring the ownership of assets to the trust. You need to understand the tax implications and other financial implications of transferring ownership and you need to make informed choices about what assets to transfer. Working with an experienced attorney is important in order to be able to do that effectively.

Getting Help From Oklahoma City Living Trust Attorneys

Oklahoma City living trust attorneys at Parman & Easterday can provide the assistance that you need to make sure you avoid common trust mistakes so you create a legally valid trust that provides the protection you expect for your family and assets. To find out more about how our firm can help you with all aspects of trust creation, join us for a free seminar.

You can also give us a call today at (405) 843-6100 or contact us online to get personalized one-on-one assistance with using trusts and other legal tools to be prepared for whatever the future holds.  Give us a call now to get started.