Legal Question in Wills and Trusts in Utah

My husband is near death. The home and property we own jointly is worth approx $750,000 dollars. I've checked the titles to the home and property, and when my husband is no longer living, I'm told I just have to provide the death certificate to have the titles transferred to my name alone. The cars we own have titles with our names connected by or. " We both have wills stating that we "devise and bequeath all of my estate, both real and personal to my wife", etc and in my will, to my husband. I've been told I should do a family trust, but upon my death the will states our property should be divided to my 2 step kids equally. Because our estate has less value than $5,490,000.00 I don't believe I should have to pay estate tax, nor should my step kids upon my death. I don't see any need to set up a trust. Do you?


Asked on 5/04/17, 10:29 am

1 Answer from Attorneys
Randy Lish Randy M. Lish, Attorney at Law

There are several reasons to use a trust, and only one of them is to avoid estate taxes. What if, at the time of a distribution, one of the beneficiaries (your step-kids or their children) is receiving government benefits that are needs-based? If so, receiving an inheritance without proper planning will disqualify them from getting those benefits, until the inheritance has been spent down. The inheritance will not benefit a anyone. Have you thought about the asset protection benefits of leaving the estate in trust, rather making an outright distribution? You need to sit down with an estate planning who can go over some the non-tax reasons for using a trust, especially with a large estate, and then make decision about what you want to do.

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Answered on 5/05/17, 8:56 am


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