Asset Protection and Preservation… Providing Financial Security and Peace of Mind for Yourself and Your Loved Ones.
Trusts will help you achieve personal, financial and legal objectives, such as saving on estate taxes, minimizing probate, avoiding a guardianship, providing asset management and assuring personal wishes are carried out after your death. For many individuals, these objectives can be summarized into one overall goal - to grow, protect and preserve assets for you and loved ones.
In many cases, wise planning will call for a trust company to act as the trustee for a trust established to achieve a personal financial goal. In other cases you may receive guidance on estate planning and the selection of an attorney to finalize the estate plan. Whatever your needs, the staff of MEMBERS Trust company will work with you to implement a plan to achieve your personal goals and manage the assets you have worked so hard to accumulate.
Living Trusts
A living trust is a trust you can set up during your life. Living trusts are an excellent way to avoid the cost and hassle of probate - the court process following a person's death -- because the property you transfer into the trust during your life passes directly to the trust beneficiaries after you die, without court involvement. The successor trustee -- the person you appoint to handle the trust after your death -- simply transfers ownership to the beneficiaries you named in the trust.
Are set up and funded with property and investments during your life.
Are controlled by you, when you name yourself as trustee of the trust.
Allow trust property to pass, at your death, directly to beneficiaries named in the trust document without probate. A living trust can also continue for beneficiaries after your death.
MEMBERS Trust Company can be named as your successor trustee and step in at your death or incapacity, to transfer ownership to your beneficiaries.
Testamentary Trust
A testamentary trust is a trust created by a will, effective only upon death.
Set up under a will to be funded at death for one or more beneficiaries. This trust is important if you have minor children.
Flexible - you designate the terms including the use of funds.
Specific regarding who manages the trust assets. MEMBERS Trust Company can be named to serve in that capacity.
back to top Other Trusts
An Insurance Trust can accomplish multiple financial needs including providing immediate cash for an estate, avoiding federal estate taxes and creating a certain asset or account to achieve a special purpose.
A Spendthrift Trust is a trust created for a beneficiary who lacks the capacity to manage the assets. The trustee keeps control of the trust income, distributing money to the beneficiary as needed, and sometimes paying third parties (creditors, for example) on the beneficiary's behalf, bypassing the beneficiary completely. Spendthrift trusts typically contain a provision prohibiting creditors from seizing the trust fund to satisfy the beneficiary's debts. MEMBERS Trust Company, if named trustee, would manage the assets after your death and distribute them according to the standards and wishes set up by the trust.
A Charitable Trust offers you the opportunity to leave your personal legacy by making a substantial gift to a charity. Charitable Trusts also achieve income and estate tax savings for the person who creates the trust.
A Marital Life Estate Trust or AB Trust is a trust that allows couples to reduce or avoid estate taxes. Each spouse puts his or her property in an AB trust. When the first spouse dies, his or her half of the property goes to the beneficiaries named in the trust -- commonly, the grown children of the couple -- with the crucial condition that the surviving spouse has the right to use the property for life and is entitled to any income it generates. When the surviving spouse dies, the property passes to the trust beneficiaries. It is not considered part of the second spouse's estate for estate tax purposes. Using this kind of trust keeps the second spouse's taxable estate half the size it would be if the property were left directly to the spouse.
back to top Estate Settlement
If, at your death, you have assets in your name only, those assets must first go through the legal process called probate before they can be distributed to your beneficiaries. Rather than burden a family member or friend, you can appoint MEMBERS Trust Company as executor or personal representative in your will to handle the probate.
Designating MEMBERS Trust Company as your executor could provide peace of mind, and more:
Experience
Professional asset management
Competent, trained staff
Reliable and regulated
Impartial
Reasonable fees
back to top Guardianship
Guardianship is a legal relationship created by a court between a guardian and his ward--either a minor child or an incapacitated adult. The guardian has a legal right and duty to care for the ward. This may involve making personal decisions on his or her behalf, managing property or both. Guardianships of incapacitated adults are more typically called conservatorships.
MEMBERS Trust Company can be appointed Guardian of Property and will protect and manage the guardianship property until the minor reaches adulthood or as long as incompetency lasts.
back to top Finding An Attorney
The decision to retain an attorney should be made after you have exercised independent judgment, as this attorney/client relationship for you and your family may span many years. There are many considerations, both personal and professional that you should address. Please find a few suggestions below:
How many years has the attorney practiced in this area of trusts, wills and estate planning?
What percentage does this area make up of his/her overall practice?
Does the firm have other attorneys practicing in this area?
How does the firm bill -hourly basis or fixed fee for service?
Ask for an estimate of the total fee. What circumstances would cause the estimate to be off more than 25%?
Check with local Bar in your state and inquire about complaints or status of the attorney. (Complaints do not mean the attorney committed an improper or wrongful act.)
Does the firm carry professional liability or errors and omissions insurance coverage?
Ask the attorney about his experience and qualifications to determine certifications, membership in professional associations, and education.
MEMBERS Trust Company will provide you with a list of attorneys. Please understand we are not endorsing any of the attorneys on the list and shall have no responsibility or liability for the services rendered by any attorney on the list. This list will be made available as an accommodation and service to you as we believe finalizing an estate plan is one of the most important steps you may to take to protect yourself and your loved ones. Please contact the Trust staff at your credit union.
If you need extensive counsel and planning on federal income and estate taxes, inquire about experience in those areas. (Some firms provide estate planning but do not offer involved tax planning)
back to top Investment Management
MEMBERS Trust Company will partner with you to help you reach your investment goals. Our expertise includes managing investments for objectives like aggressive growth, growth, growth and income and income. As you pass through the various stages of your life, your financial needs and objectives will change. Our core principle is that allocation across investment classes should be adjusted as you pass through these cycles of life. We believe that since investments involve risk, they should be prudently managed by diversification, asset allocation, continual monitoring and a customized investment policy for each investment portfolio.
Copyright ® MEMBERS Trust Company 2003-2009. Not NCUA or FDIC Insured or Guaranteed.
MEMBERS Trust Company non-deposit investment products referenced in this site or any page hereof are not credit union or bank deposits or obligations of, or guaranteed or endorsed or otherwise supported by, MEMBERS Trust Company , any credit union or any affiliate, are not federally insured or guaranteed by the United States Government, National Credit Union Administration , Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, Federal Reserve Board or any other governmental agency, and are subject to investment risks, including possible loss of the principal amount invested.
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