Trusts

A trust you create and control during life that avoids probate on the assets it holds, keeps your estate plan private, and provides seamless management if you become incapacitated. Powerful, but only works on assets you actually transfer into it.

A trust you cannot amend or revoke after it's signed. Trades control for benefits the revocable version can't give you — estate-tax exclusion, asset protection, Medicaid planning.

A trust created inside your will, which springs into existence only when you die. Cheaper to set up than a living trust but doesn't avoid probate.

Owns your life insurance policy so the death benefit is not in your taxable estate. Classic technique for high-net-worth estates where the policy face value would push you over the exemption.

An irrevocable trust deliberately drafted so the grantor pays income tax on the trust's earnings while the assets themselves sit outside the taxable estate. The income-tax payment is effectively an additional tax-free gift that compounds inside the trust.

An irrevocable trust one spouse creates for the benefit of the other (and descendants), using up the grantor-spouse's lifetime exemption while keeping indirect access to the assets through the beneficiary-spouse. The most popular HNW exemption-use technique of the current era.

A self-settled irrevocable trust — one where the grantor is also a discretionary beneficiary — that is shielded from the grantor's own future creditors under the laws of about 20 permissive states. Virginia adopted its own DAPT statute in 2012 (Va. Code § 64.2-745.1) but enforceability remains untested; West Virginia does not authorize DAPTs. Most residents of both states still use out-of-state situs.

A long-duration irrevocable trust designed to hold wealth across multiple generations without triggering estate, gift, or generation-skipping transfer tax at each death. Where allowed, a dynasty trust can run in perpetuity; Virginia and West Virginia both permit very long (effectively perpetual) terms.

An irrevocable trust you transfer your home (or a vacation home) into while retaining the right to live there for a fixed term. If you outlive the term, the home passes to your beneficiaries at a heavily discounted gift-tax value — while the full appreciation escapes your estate.

The mirror image of a charitable remainder trust — the charity gets annual payments for a term, then the remainder goes to your heirs. Moves appreciating assets to the next generation at a discounted gift-tax value while supporting a charity you care about.

Holds assets for a beneficiary with a disability without disqualifying them from means-tested benefits like SSI and Medicaid. Three flavors: third-party (from someone else's money), first-party / d4A (from the beneficiary's own money), and pooled / d4C.

You transfer appreciated assets to the trust, take an upfront partial income-tax deduction, receive an annuity or percentage income stream for life or a term of years, and at the end the remainder goes to charity.

You transfer assets to an irrevocable trust and take back a fixed annuity for a term of years. If the asset outgrows the IRS's assumed rate of return, the excess passes to your beneficiaries gift-tax-free.

Marital trust structures that shelter the first spouse's federal estate-tax exemption from being wasted. Classic "AB trust" planning. Largely obsolete for most couples since portability arrived in 2011, but still relevant for state-tax states, blended families, and control planning.

A clause (more than a standalone trust type) that prevents the beneficiary from assigning their interest and blocks creditors from reaching trust assets until they are actually distributed. Most modern trusts include one by default.