the trust is just like an entity it’s

like a shell it’s almost like a like a

you can think of it almost kind of like

the same the same structure as like an

LLC but it accomplishes different

purposes and so a trust is like a shell

that can own things and then if it owns

things it can do it can help you out in

different ways and so the types of trust

that we do here are called normally

called revocable living trusts they

probably have about a hundred names

throughout the United States they’re

called like family trusts and land

trusts and all different kinds of stuff

the important thing is that these are

the types of trusts that are used in

estate planning probably ninety percent

of the time or so across the board

throughout the United States

um and the important thing is that their

ear that they’re they’re revocable that

they’re not irrevocable and the

revocability is a key factor because

that’s what allows people to be flexible

with their trust and so what I tell

folks is that anyone who we draft a

trust for when they drive up to our

office to review it and sign it and exit

into existence whatever they could do

when they drove up they’ll still be able

to do when they drive out and so you can

amend it you can put things in it you

can take things out of it you can scrap

it all together if you decide you don’t

want it anymore you can restate it and

so how this really works um

with with kind of the trust and the

flexibility as we create this trust and

then whether we’re working with a single

person or with spouses we make those

folks the trustees of the trust and so

these types of trusts are really they

can really accomplish two things they

can help you avoid probate because

anything that’s owned by the trust when

you pass away will avoid the probate

process and that’s a big headache not

only that and then the other thing a

trust can do is it can stay in existence

for years and years after somebody

passes away so along those lines you can

attach strings to an inheritance and so

when one of the one of the main reasons

people go to probate is real property if

you have a house or you have land or you

have mineral interests like oil rights

and you haven’t done anything to

specifically have that piece of real

property or real estate avoid the

probate process when you pass away it’s

going to go through probate what we do

with the trust is we actually deed your

house into your trust after you create

it and the government the IRS the

mortgage company all those folks are are

still going to look at it like you own

the house but for titling purposes and

for estate planning purposes it’s titled

in the name of the trust so like for me

instead of my house being owned by

Andrew St Pierre individually it would

be owned by like the Saint Pierre Family

Trust and so the advantage of that and

so well it’s kind of scary for a second

first of all because then my house isn’t

in my name but it’s owned and controlled

by the trust I’m the trustee While I’m

Alive so I own and control the trust

that owns and controls the house so I

can still do whatever I want with the

house there’s just a degree of legal

separation there and that’s how the

house avoids that whole court and

probate process after I pass away

because if my house is owned by my trust

what happens is when I pass away it

doesn’t go and get owned by my estate

and have to go through that court

process it was owned by my trust so it

just continues to be owned by my trust

that still stays in existence after I

pass away very importantly after the

initial trustees who are our clients

pass the way the trust does lock up and

it becomes irrevocable at that time and

then the successor trustees set step up

so I would appoint people that I know

and that I trust who would be tasked

with administering the trust according

to the terms that I put in there after I

pass away they can’t make any changes

they can just do what I’ve said to do so

like they could deed the house to

somebody if that’s who I said I wanted

to go to or they could sell the house if

that’s what I said I wanted to happen

and so the house avoids probate that way

and then the other thing is it you can

kind of attach strings to things and so

there’s three common reasons that we do

trust and we usually just go over those

with folks and see if any of them apply

the first one is I usually recommend a

trust to people that have like a lot of

real property especially real property

Like Houses in multiple States land in

multiple States and one of the reasons

is is you can have probate in multiple

States at the same time if I had a house

in all 50 states let’s say I win the

lottery and I want to just own a

property in all 50 states so I do that

if I don’t do any estate planning and I

pass away there’s probably going to be

50 probates I don’t even want to think

about how bad that would be if I had one

trust I could deed all of those houses

into that trust whether it was created

whatever state I’m domiciled in you can

create it there and then no matter where

you own property in the U.S you can deed

it into there and it’s all set up to

avoid probate so in that scenario I gave

that ridiculous example my trust could

own all 50 of those houses when I passed

away they would all be set up to avoid

probate and transfer easily outside of

the court and so that’s one reason we’ll

do it and and I think historically

people kind of used to think oh if

somebody has a trust they’re they’re

well off they’re wealthy they have a lot

of assets and that is kind of the case

for that reason but the other two which

are more common I think at least that we

see don’t have anything to do with how

many assets you have the most common

reason I think by far that I make these

trusts is for folks that want to leave

to minor children so it’s lots of times

parents that have minor children if

something was to happen to them they’d

want their children’s inheritance to be

protected they’d want to make sure it

was used to be given to their children

or to benefit their children and to take

care of their children and so miners

can’t inherit in the state of Colorado I

don’t think they can inherit in any of

the 50 states and so what ends up

happening if somebody just has a will

that says everything goes to our kids or

if they don’t have what I tell people if

you don’t have an estate plan you

actually do the government has written

one for you and it might not say what

you want it to say and so if that’s the

case it’s called you know passing away

intestate without a plan that usually

leads stuff to the kids as well but they

can’t really inherit under the law and

so what ends up happening in those

situations is kind of a disaster the

children have to go to a court there’s a

hearing it can be very expensive and

then a judge who’s just a usually very

very bright but at the end of the day

just a stranger in a a black robe with

limited information is going to make a

decision and appoint a conservator and

that conservator is going to be the

person that manages the children’s

inheritance for them under the purview

of the Court the H2 inherit in Colorado

is 18 if you have a conservator

appointed by a court like that for a

minor it changes for that individual to

21 but then at 21 they get everything

outright which isn’t always the best

idea and we’ll talk about that more in a

second but um the idea then is that it

you maintain a whole lot of control if

you have to go to court and you don’t

know who that conservator could be if

first of all you’re going to have to

have a hearing and pay a lot of money to

get that person appointed but and it may

very well be who the the parents would

have wanted it also could be somebody

that the parents know very well like the

crazy uncle or somebody who they they

love but they would not want managing

money for the kids if that person shows

up and makes a good argument they may

get appointed what ends up happening a

whole lot is an attorney gets appointed

because a judge may not know what to do

our owner Jeff Althouse used to get

appointed in this conservator role he’ll

be the first to tell you that’s kind of

a disaster because then there The

Inheritance is going to pay the

attorney’s fees and so you’re going to

have an attorney that charges 300 350

400 an hour to manage this inheritance

for kids and let’s say there’s a

five-year-old who’s you know lost their

parents or something that’s a long time

before they turn 21 you might have four

different attorneys five different

attorneys appointed in that role and

you’d be lucky to have anything left

when they turn 21 and so the trust isn’t

perfect it’s never perfect if you know a

young person loses their parents or

anything like that but it allows folks

to maintain a huge element of control

that they would not otherwise have

because if the trust holds the

inheritance for the young person how it

works then is that they stay out of

court you don’t have to go to court

um the trustees who are usually the

parents get to pick who that successor

trustee would be that’s usually somebody

that they know and they trust and knows

the kids and that would be the person

then managing the money for the children

and then on top of that the parents get

to pick the parameters of when the

children would get money and stuff like

that and that’s not decided by the court

either and so again it’s not perfect but

it’s a it’s a huge element of control

that you get to maintain kind of in a

worst case situation and that kind of

brings us into the third reason which

piggybacks off that when going back to

kind of the 21 year old inheriting and

so I am 39 I’m turning 40 this year and

what I tell people is that I was a lot

more fun to hang out with when I was 21.

when I was 21 I was at the University of

Tennessee I was a junior I was going to

watch the Tennessee Volunteers play

football on Saturdays I was drinking a

lot of beer we were going out and having

a great time it would not have been a

great idea for me to get a big

inheritance at 21. my buddies would have

absolutely loved it but there probably

wouldn’t be much of that left of any

right now when I’m 39 and so kind of to

protect an inheritance from a young

person from like spending it frivolously

we can attach further strings to trusts

and that’s the other thing that they can

do and so lots of times we’ll do what’s

called we call a 25 30 35 distribution

where a young person would get 33 of

their inheritance at age 25 the second

33 percent at age 30 whatever the

remainder is at age 35 and you can

switch up those percentages and ages to

whatever you want but the idea is that

you’re kind of protecting the money and

protecting the young person from

themselves during that entire time from

whenever the the parents were to pass

away or the kids were supposed to

inherit to the time that they get their

last distribution if that’s 35 there’s

also something on our trust called The

Hem standard and that’s an acronym and

it stands for health education

maintenance and support and so the

trustee can always make distributions

for The Young Person’s behalf for those

reasons which basically encompasses

everything medical bills tuition

payments um if they need room and you

know money for food money a place to

live they can pay for all of that stuff

in their discretion and so the idea is

that the young person would always be

taken care of as long as there’s money

in their trust fund they just wouldn’t

get a lump sum into their own bank

account to do whatever they want with

until they reach an age that their

parents would think they’d be

comfortable with that and so there’s a

lot of stuff there that a trust can kind

of do that can really protect young

people and can provide a lot of Peace of

Mind to their parents