You may have had the privilege to form a special bond with your niece or nephew, along with having the financial means to support them throughout their life. You may not want this support to go away when you, unfortunately, pass on. This may have you thinking about setting up a trust fund in your niece’s or nephew’s name. Read on to discover how to leave a trust fund for your niece or nephew and how a seasoned Broward County trust lawyer at The Probate Lawyers can work to ensure this is executed properly.
How can I leave a trust fund for my niece or nephew?
You may set up a trust fund for your niece or nephew the same way you would set up a trust fund for any other loved one. The only difference may be that you include a provision if your niece or nephew is still a minor upon your unfortunate passing. This provision may state that your trustee may hold your trust assets until your niece or nephew reaches the mature age you disclose. Otherwise, the basic sequence of steps read as follows:
- You must decide whether to make this an individual or shared trust.
- You must decide which assets to transfer into the trust.
- You must change the title of any trust asset that has a title document (i.e., your house or car).
- You must decide who is to operate as a successor trustee of the trust (i.e., your niece’s or nephew’s parent).
- You must decide who is to be the beneficiary of your trust assets (i.e., your niece or nephew).
- You must sit down with your lawyer to compose the trust document itself.
- You must sit down with a notary when signing the bottom of the trust document.
Who else can I designate to inherit a trust fund?
One of the appeals to Florida estate law is the lack of an inheritance tax rate imposed on beneficiaries. If you were a resident of any other state, you would have had to worry about significant rates for nonlineal relatives like your niece or nephew. For example, in the state of Pennsylvania, there is a 15 percent inheritance tax rate for niece and nephew beneficiaries.
This is all to say that the possibilities may be nonrestrictive and limitless for whom you decide to inherit a trust fund. Aside from your niece/nephew, you may appoint an aunt/uncle, brother-in-law/sister-in-law, cousin, or even a close friend without consequence. Regardless of who you designate, the steps for setting it up, as mentioned above, remain the same.
Arguably the most important step you must remember to take when setting up a trust fund is hiring a competent Broward County estate lawyer. Our team at The Probate Lawyers is looking forward to working with you.
