The main vehicle we use to help people protect their assets, including investments such as stocks, bonds, mutual funds and CDs, from long-term care costs is called an Asset Preservation Trust. Sometimes, however, when people hear “putting assets into a trust” it leads them to an unfortunate misunderstanding that they will have to cash in all of their investments to put them into the trust or that the lawyer will be managing their assets. This is absolutely not the case.
In this Elder Law Minute, Wes Coulson, Southern Illinois Elder Law attorney, discusses Asset Preservation Trusts and explains how investments are handled when placed into these trusts to protect them from long-term care costs.
Do I Have to Cash In My Investments to Put Them In an Asset Preservation Trust?
Transcript:
Hi, I’m Wes Coulson and this is your Elder Law Minute. If you’ve looked around our website, or have been to one of our workshops, you may know that the main vehicle that we use to help clients to protect assets from long-term care costs is called an Asset Preservation Trust.
Now, sometimes when people hear “putting assets into a trust” it leads them to an unfortunate misunderstanding and that misunderstanding is “Well, I would have to cash in all of my investments and put them in the trust,” or that there would be “you the lawyer would be managing my assets.”
Let me reassure you that that’s absolutely not the case.
It’s putting things into a safe, and you can take whatever you have and put it in that safe. So, if you have stocks, bonds, mutual funds, CDs, we can get those into the trust just by naming it as the new owner. We hope that you, if you have a good financial advisor, that you have a cherished and trusting relationship and we certainly don’t want to do anything to interfere with that. We’ll be happy to work with your existing financial advisors, they’ll just hold accounts in the name of the trust in addition to holding accounts in your name individually. Thanks.
For more information on Asset Preservation Planning, visit these articles:
- The Sooner the Look-Back Period Starts, the Sooner It Ends
- Why do I need an Asset Preservation Plan?
- Long Term Care Costs: The Biggest Threat to your Financial Future
“Your Trusted Advisor on the Elder Care Journey”
Dent-Coulson Elder Law is dedicated to providing families in the St. Louis area with their Elder Law needs. Our practice areas include Asset Preservation Planning, Veterans Benefits, Medicaid Eligibility, Alzheimer’s Planning, Special Needs Planning, Estate Planning and more. We understand the financial challenges you may face as you and your loved ones grow older. At Dent-Coulson Elder Law, our clients’ well-being is our number one priority. For immediate help, call (877)995-6876 or Contact Us and we will get in touch as soon as possible.
