Trust Drafting

This course is a part of:

Certificate in Paralegal Studies

Associate of Paralegal Studies

Bachelor of Science in Legal Studies

Bachelor of Business Administration

Bachelor of Science in Psychology

Required Prerequisite :

PLG-106 Wills, Trusts & Estates

This course will focus on the key aspects of drafting trusts for clients. We will examine the major considerations that must be dealt with in preparing trusts. This includes estate planning, estate tax planning, Medicaid eligibility planning, etc. We will also look at many different types of trusts, including revocable trusts, irrevocable trusts, life insurance trusts, etc. Many important trust provisions will be reviewed and placed into context to allow the student to effectively prepare trust documents for a wide variety of clients.

Course Learning Outcomes

• Define the roles of the various parties to a trust and describe the formalities necessary to execute a trust instrument.

• Distinguish between various types of trusts, including irrevocable trusts, revocable trusts, testamentary trusts, etc.

• Identify the goals that are associated with various types of trusts and determine the types of trusts that can meet clients' needs and goals.

• Draft contracts and contract provisions in plain English and convert terms written in "legalese" into plain English

• Determine whether a trust can hold "s corporation" shares and determine what provisions are necessary to allow a trust to hold "s corporation" shares.

• Distinguish between various types of trust distribution provisions and identify the benefits and pitfalls associated with various types of trust distribution provisions.

• Draft trust distribution provisions to meet clients' needs and goals.

• Identify gift tax issues that may come up in the course of the preparation of a trust and use "Crummey" provisions to minimize gift tax consequences on gifts to a trust

• Determine, based on the provisions of a trust, whether a gift to such trust will be considered a taxable completed gift.

• Describe the advantages and disadvantages to having assets in a trust included in the taxable estate of the grantor.

• Determine, based on the provisions of a trust, whether assets held in the trust will be considered part of the grantor's taxable estate.

• Ensure that assets held in trust will be included in the taxable estate of the grantor and, as the client's situation may dictate.

• Describe the advantages and disadvantages of creating a "grantor" trust vs. a "non-grantor" trust.

• Determine whether a trust is a grantor trust from its provisions and draft provisions that cause a trust to be considered a grantor trust or a non- grantor trust.

• Draft trust provisions to ensure that trust assets are not considered "available resources" for Medicaid planning purposes.

• Determine whether assets in a trust are vulnerable to the creditors, the grantor, or the beneficiaries by reading the trust distribution provisions.

• Describe the advantages and disadvantages of foreign and domestic assets protection trusts vis a vis other spendthrift trusts.

• Identify the purposes and benefits of a supplemental needs trust and the provisions necessary to allow a trust to qualify as a supplemental needs trust.

• Identify the important considerations that are especially applicable to trusts that hold real estate and determine the mechanisms by which those considerations can be protected.

• Ensure that trusts have appropriate secondary provisions and determine whether and when these provisions should be amended or deleted from boilerplate forms when drafting a trust.

• Determine whether a trust meets the requirements of a charitable trust.

• Describe the different types of split interest charitable trusts that are available under federal law and distinguish between them.