Many people who establish trusts want to do so in order to protect assets for their loved ones. But there are many types of trusts, and not all of them protect against the same types of risks. All trusts keep assets out of probate. Depending on how they are structured, trusts can be used to reduce taxes, provide for loved ones with disabilities or special needs, benefit a favorite charity, and more. But if you are looking to protect assets from your beneficiaries’ creditors, you may need a domestic asset protection trust (DAPT).
Made possible by the Ohio Asset Management Modernization Act (OMMA) of 2012, the Ohio Legacy Trust Act (OLTA) became law in 2013. permitting the creation of domestic asset protection trusts (also called “Ohio Legacy Trusts” in Ohio. People who live in states that do not allow DAPTs can still create one in a state that does, if the trust complies with that state’s laws. Of the states that do allow DAPTs, Ohio consist… Read More
Ohio guardians have many responsibilities with respect to incapacitated adults on whose behalf they are acting. Guardianship rights are carefully calculated to give guardians the freedom to act for their wards’ benefit, without giving them excessive powers that could be abused.
For example, guardianship rights include the right to make and manage investments on the ward’s behalf, manage the ward’s real estate, and collect debts that are owed to the ward. Ohio Revised Code Section 2111.50 also gives the guardian the right to do some limited estate planning on the ward’s behalf. In August of 2021, that right was expanded somewhat, and procedural safeguards were put in place to protect the ward and other interested parties. Let’s discuss expanded guardianship rights regarding estate planning and managing a ward’s estate in Ohio.
ORC Section 2111.50, prior to its amendment, granted a guardian the same powers that the ward would be able to exercise on their own behalf, if the war… Read More
People in certain professions, like medicine and law, understand the value of asset protection because those professions are often the target of lawsuits. Others may not feel that their assets are vulnerable to a lawsuit. They may not have existing creditors, and they don’t expect to be sued—or that their children might be. In short, they are not concerned about creditors’ rights to their assets, because they don’t expect to have significant exposure.
But that would be a mistake. The truth is that any of us can find ourselves facing a situation in which a court rules that we owe someone else a lot of money. It is for that reason that discretionary trusts for asset protection have become increasingly popular. Discretionary trusts and trusts with spendthrift provisions are commonly used to protect beneficiaries’ assets from potential creditors.
There are a number of common scenarios from which settlors (creators) of such trusts hope to protect their beneficiaries’ assets. Trusts can pr… Read More
The tasks involved in probating an estate can be daunting, especially for those who have never been through it before. We are committed to relieving anxiety around the probate process and to helping Ohioans through an often-challenging time in their lives.
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