原文: An Inheritor’s trust can solve many estate planning problems

By Mark P. Cussen

A large number of wealthy Americans today are worried about what will happen to their estates after they are gone. Although many different types of trusts have been designed to help alleviate this problem, a new type of trust, called the “inheritor’s trust” has a level of flexibility that is unmatched by other estate planning vehicles. This type of trust is a dynastic trust, similar to many other types of dynastic trusts, except that this trust is a “stand alone” trust that allows for changes in investment strategies, as long as the beneficiary is willing to discuss the situation with his or her grantors.

This type of trust can provide substantial benefits for those seeking long-term, multigenerational planning, such as the type designed to avoid the generation-skipping transfer tax. It can also protect against divorce, creditors and estate taxes. Any parent that is currently gifting assets to their children on any kind of regular basis should seriously consider establishing one of these trusts. The key difference between this type of trust and other trusts is that the beneficiaries must be willing to talk openly with their grantors regarding how they want the money invested or handled.

In order to establish an inheritor’s trust, an empty, irrevocable dynasty trust must be established first. The inheritor is more often than not the trustee, and must usually choose a close friend or confidant to be the distribution trustee. This trustee has absolute control over what kind of distributions is made from income and principal. However, this transference to a third-party trustee is exactly what makes the assets of the trust so secure from creditors. Beneficiaries have absolutely no legal right to force any kind of distribution from the trust, which renders creditors unable to force any type of distribution from the trust as well. It is important to select the correct state to create the trust in, as the validity of these trusts will vary according to state law.

译文: 继承信托化解房产分配难题

    现今，令大量的美国富豪头痛的是，死后他们的房产将何去何从。虽然已有很多不同种类的信托被设计出来帮助缓解这个问题，而一种叫做“继承人托”的新型信托具备了一定水准的灵活性，是其它房产分配手段所不可比拟的。这种信托是一种皇朝信托，跟许多其他种类的皇朝信托相似，除了一点：这种信托是一种“无与伦比”的信托，它允许投资方略的更改，只要受益人愿意同受托人讨论其情形。

    这种信托可以给那些追求长期的、为多代人计划的人提供巨大利益，例如旨在避免跨代传递税的类型。它也可以保护免于离婚，对抗债主和房产税。当今任何一个父母，不管基于何种目的，正将资产馈赠给其孩子的，应该认真地考虑建立其中一个信托。此种信托和其他信托不同之处，关键在于受益人必须愿意同他们的受托人公开谈论他们想要如何投资或者处理这些钱。

    为了建立一个继承信托，必须首先建立一个空的不可撤销的皇朝信托。继承人经常不止不是一个受托人，而且必须选择一个亲近的朋友或密友作为分配受托人。对于何种分配是由收入和资本组成的，此受托人拥有绝对控制。然而，正是这种转由第三方托管的行为，保护了资产免于债权人侵害。受益人绝对地没有法律上权利来强迫对信托实施任何分配，这使得债权人也绝对地无法为此行为。选择合适的州来建立信托也是很重要的，因为这些信托的有效性也随着州法律的不同而不尽相同。