subject: Spouse Trust Pros And Cons [print this page] As a definition, the spouse trust means when somebody establishes a trust that gives the other spouse the opportunity to protect the family's welfare and also to defer some taxes. Through this process, the living spouse can be the only person who can use the estate during his lifetime. The spouse trust is divided into tow parts. The living spouse's part remains revocable as the deceased's will be irrevocable.
When creating a spouse trust, one should be aware of all its benefits. It can be established for tax savings or, in some circumstances, it allows the living spouse to beneficiate from the trust income. After the second spouse dies the followers will be the children.
Another option is to designate your spouse as a co-trustee in your family living trust, in order to avoid the probate. Through this, both spouses can have control over the trust. This means that each of them can sell or give away the assets. It is required that both spouses give their signature as consent of transferring or selling the shared property. This process is a so called "shared marital trust".
A family living trust is a legal document which is established during your lifetime. It acts like a revocable living trust, as it can be changed by the trust's owner. It is mostly used to avoid taxes, manage the financial resources or keep the privacy of your belongings.
The only way to avoid probate, when having a family living trust, is to ask your lawyer for his legal advice. Any attorney should know that when you set up a family living trust, as the owner of the revocable trust, you are entitled to make any changes you want: demand your belongings or replace its beneficiaries if needed.
The living spouse has to obey when, according to the spouse trust, he is responsible of protecting the estate in his/hers follower's interest, if there are no any other requirements.
A trustee intervenes when the second spouse entitled to the trust has died and takes position in acting according to the trust's rules. In this case the trust is irrevocable.
In conclusion if the trust owner is a wealthy person he needs to hire an attorney who can represent him in order to achieve his goals and protect his welfare. If you don't want your spouse to act as a trustee you should ask your lawyer for his legal support, for you to act as a singular trust owner for your share of the belongings, since the spouse trust document requires that the welfare is to be owned by the both spouses. You also should know that both spouses can revoke the document and the person's welfare returns in its main form, as it was before the trust was settled.
