Castle Wealth Group

December 20, 2016

The Castle Trust™: The Modern Asset Protection Trust That Protects Your Family For Life

What is a Castle Trust™? How is the Castle Trust™ different from types of other trusts?

Most common trusts (like a traditional “revocable living trust”) do a decent job at helping your family avoid probate and at controlling the distribution of your assets….but that’s really all they do.

They offer no asset protection to the trust maker nor the trust maker’s heirs.

And that’s where the Castle Trust™ is different; a Castle Trust™ is a unique type of trust that guarantees the assets in your trust are 100% secure no matter what happens in life.

In other words, beyond protecting your family from probate, the Castle Trust™ also builds in a lifetime of asset protection for your children and even your grandchildren. This means their inheritance is protected from their own divorces, creditors, or lawsuits – as well from the your (the trust maker’s) own legal issues or long-term medical care (including nursing home) expenses.

And although the Castle Trust™ might technically be considered a type of “irrevocable” trust, this doesn’t mean you can’t make changes. Because of the Castle Trust’s™ careful setup, it allows you a lot of the control that most traditional trusts are missing.

This means you can change trustees and beneficiaries, control the investments, receive the income from the trust, and empty the trust at any time…all while still having your Castle Trust™ be protected from probate, the IRS, and long-term care costs.

What can a Castle Trust™ do?

Avoid probate & distribute your assets as you wish

Like other trusts, assets held in a Castle Trust™ will bypass probate and be distributed as you wish.

Protect the inheritance of your beneficiaries

Between your beneficiaries’ divorces, creditors, and many other legal issues, an inheritance could easily be wiped out. Within your Castle Trust™, you’ll also have the option to set up a Legacy Inheritance Trust, which protects the family wealth for generations. Learn more about the Legacy Inheritance Trust here.

Protect the trust maker while they are still alive

Many people set up their trusts to protect their assets after they pass, but there’s still a variety of threats that could cause you to deplete the trust’s assets before they have a chance to be passed on – like long-term medical care or nursing home costs, lawsuits, or other legal issues.

Protect your life insurance benefits and annuities

A more advanced use of a Castle Trust™ is to own life insurance or an annuity that has a long-term care rider. By moving the insurance into a Castle Trust™, ownership of the insurance can be protected from lawsuits and long-term care costs. This can also ensure the long-term care benefit could be paid out to cover home care and that the death benefit would be protected for the spouse of beneficiaries.

Protect your family home from Michigan Estate Recovery

The Castle Trust™ is set up in a way specifically to protect the family home from probate, legal issues, and long-term care costs. Beyond this, a Castle Trust™  can also protect your home from Michigan Estate Recovery even if you “owe” the government for Medicaid benefits. If your estate is tucked away in the Castle Trust™, the government won’t be able to touch your home even after your passing.

See a real-world example of what the Castle Trust™ could look like for your family here.

Why haven’t I heard of the Castle Trust™ before?

“If the Castle Trust is so great, then why haven’t I ever heard of it before?”

This is a question we hear regularly from clients, so here are the 3 biggest reasons you haven’t heard of a Castle Trust™.

Reason #1) Most people focus on what happens when they pass away, but forget to think about what happens if they don’t.

It’s an easy, but common, mistake to make.

Many people put the time and effort into planning what happens after they pass away (like avoiding probate and distributing assets), but forget to think about what happens if they continue aging and begin to face all the issues that arise as we grow older (like finding ways to pay for medical care).

Because of this, most people (and their estate planners) simply don’t consider the aspect of asset protection that the Castle Trust™ prioritizes.

Reason #2) Many specialists are still too focused on diminishing estate taxes, rather than planning for those potential $10K+ monthly long-term care bills.

In the past, more people were concerned about estate taxes than long-term care costs. This is why the focus on asset protection is still lacking in so many estate plans today!

Yet, the fact of the matter is that our clients these days are Main Street people, not Wall Street people, and aren’t concerned about a $5 million estate tax. What they are concerned about is Michigan nursing home costs rising to $12,000 monthly.

Reason #3) The Castle Trust™ was created and trademarked by the Elder Care Firm’s founder and Certified Elder Law attorney Christopher J. Berry. This means a Castle Trust™ can only be set up by working with the experts at the Elder Care Firm.

In other words, The Castle Trust™ is a highly-specialized type of trust you simply won’t find anywhere else!

How do I set up a Castle Trust™ in Michigan?

The first step is to join us for a free “Legal, Financial & Tax Planning for the 2nd Half of Life” workshop, led by Certified Elder Law attorney & creator of the Castle Trust™, Christopher J. Berry.

In the workshop, you’ll not only learn more about the Castle Trust™, but also about protecting your “stuff” (including your estate, assets & IRAs) from probate and the IRS, saving you & your family from the painfully-high costs of long-term care, and how to grow a legacy to pass on to your family that you can be proud of.

You’ll come out knowing what a Castle Trust™ is and so much more.

LEARN MORE & RESERVE YOUR WORKSHOP SEAT HERE

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