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(412) 557-7726If you want to be remembered for the legacy you leave behind, chances are you will need a trust or two, and the estate planning lawyers of Biernacki and Associates can help you set them up.
Allegheny County is rich in history, with multiple competing legacies from colonial conflicts and Native American myths to the rise and fall of industrial strength in Pittsburgh. Each one of us leaves something behind here, usually to family members, sometimes to churches or causes we hold dear. What we are remembered for, though, is shaped by how we pass on that legacy and how precisely we shape its impact on the world.
If you want to be the kind of person who is remembered fondly by those you leave behind, whose legacy is one of effective action, you need to do some thoughtful estate planning. How you pass on assets is as important as what or how much you can leave behind. That is where estate planning comes in.
Estate planning is the process of preparing your assets for your death or incapacitation. The artistry of shaping a legacy often requires more advanced tools than only the most basic estate planning documents. If you want to truly leave a mark, you need to reach out to an estate planning lawyer and start talking about trusts.
If you are a responsible adult, chances are you already have a will, especially if you have children, dependents or significant assets. A will is vital; it will ensure that the people and causes you wish to leave property or belongings to will get them. It can clarify your intentions for everything from who should receive family heirlooms to who you would prefer to obtain guardianship over your children.
But a will remains a simple estate planning tool; it is limited in scope, detail, and time. With a will, you cannot choose to pass on assets slowly, over time, or add specific conditions for your beneficiaries to receive your property. For that kind of detail and control over your legacy, you need a trust, or even more than one.
A trust is both an estate planning tool and a legal entity to which you transfer ownership of assets while you are alive (or upon your death) with clear instructions for how they are to be passed on by a chosen trustee. Due to their complex nature and the wide variety of trusts available, if you want to do well by those you care about, you will need to work with an experienced estate planning lawyer like Gregory Biernacki in Pittsburgh, Allegheny County.
If trusts can offer such greater potential for estate planning and legacy building, it is in no small part because there are numerous options available for building a trust, both in terms of purpose and method of implementation. Choosing the right one for your legacy and setting it up requires the help of a skilled attorney, but the following are examples of the wide variety of trusts available.
For example, if you want to build a legacy to last multiple generations, a dynasty trust can allow you to do so while bypassing inheritance taxes on estates. While these might not be a concern for modest families, wealthier ones often rely on tools like dynasty trusts to preserve their wealth over generations.
But with the help of a special needs trust, you can safely put aside money for their care, with specific instructions for how it is to be spent on their behalf, without it actually belonging to them. As a result, the trust avoids any conflict with special needs benefits, while still allowing you to provide for the person you love.
Biernacki & Associates, P.C | Plan today so you can protect others tomorrow.
It is up to you to decide how much estate planning you need and whether a will is sufficient to protect your assets and loved ones. But if you want to build a legacy that will endure, or shape your legacy around the needs and concerns of the people and causes you care for, you should start thinking about a trust.
In Allegheny County, the estate planning lawyers at Biernacki and Associates have extensive experience handling and setting up the kinds of trusts that will give you greater control over your legacy. Call (412) 557-7726 or set up an online consultation with our Pittsburgh team to discuss your objectives and find out how we can help you realize them and plan ahead to protect those you love.
