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Question: Some friends, who I’m sure are far wealthier than I, suggested creating a trust document for my assets. How do I know if this is appropriate for me?

Answer: Many high-net-worth people create trusts to help with estate and tax planning, yet there are other reasons for a trust. Trusts can be used to help retain control and management of assets in the event of disability, protect estate assets from creditors, maximize philanthropic giving, and avoid probate.

The 2017 Tax and Job Acts increased the exemption amounts for estate, gift and generation-skipping for tax purposes from $5 million to $11.8 million; in 2022 this increased to $12.06 million. With proper planning, the bill allows couples to have a combined gift and estate tax exemption amount of about $24.12 million to pass on free of federal estate taxes upon their death. Anything above that amount may be subject to a 40% tax rate. Since most of the population doesn’t fall into this high-net-worth category, let’s look at other reasons why establishing a trust might be beneficial.

Control
A living or revocable trust can be used to retain control of your assets. As the trustee, you map out your inheritance plan and can make changes during your lifetime. At your passing, the trust cannot be changed and eliminates the possibility of undue influence from children, stepchildren, current or past spouses, and any external parties. Another reason for a trust is if there are young children or adults not yet ready to assume financial responsibility, a trust can ensure assets are not mismanaged or recklessly lost. Think of a trust as an umbrella of protection for assets to be controlled by a trustee of your choosing, rather than by your beneficiary, who may be influenced by others.

Security
Protecting assets from creditors, divorce, litigation, and malpractice are additional scenarios to consider when creating or revisiting your estate plan. Asset protection planning discussions should be considered before they’re needed to protect your assets. Certain types of irrevocable trusts may allow assets to transfer and grow outside of your estate. It’s important to work with an estate planner familiar with tax law to determine if, and what type of trust(s) would be effective in your planning.

If you are divorced, recently separated, or are considering divorce proceedings, you may be wondering if your ex-spouse is entitled to make a claim for any of your inheritance. In this article, we help to put you in the picture as to what you can expect in a number of instances related to divorce and inheritance.

Read on to see how things could affect you.

When inheritance is received during or before the marriage
If you received an inheritance before you were married and your ex-husband or wife benefitted from it, then it’s possible that your ex can make a claim on it. In cases where your inheritance was received during the marriage, inheritance can often be classed as ‘joint property’ or as a benefit to the family unit and your ex could therefore make a claim on it.

Speaker Christopher Kleps, a professor at Ohio State University, discussed the ambiguity of employment discrimination law in front of students and faculty on Feb. 10. The event was the first of the Law and Society Speaker Series.

“Employment discrimination law, as written, is inherently ambiguous,” Kleps said.

According to Kleps, employment discrimination law “leaves a lot of room for judicial discretion” and it is often up to a judge’s perception of a case in whether or not discrimination took place. The premise of his talk started with legal constructionism, which is the legal approach he uses in his research.

“The law itself is socially constructed and constructed by specific parties in specific contexts,” he said, explaining that law should be looked at in terms of

Every now and then, not often, but once in a while, you run across a truly outstanding informational resource online.

An authoritative, in-depth, well-researched, and well-written piece that was put together by an obvious industry expert.

It’s the kind of thing you bookmark so you’ll always know right where to find it when the day comes that you just might need it.

That is exactly the type of information that TriMark Legal Funding likes to provide for our clients and visitors every day.

What follows is a tremendous article by Portland Attorney Travis Mayor.

Travis launched his legal career at a large personal injury insurance defense firm in Oregon. Travis negotiated on behalf of clients in both state and federal court. As an insurance defense attorney, Travis gained a wealth of valuable experience and meaningful insight into how the insurance industry defends itself in personal injury claims. Then he leveraged this experience and opened his own personal injury firm in Portland, Oregon.

Travis’ insight is invaluable to his clients in Portland, but TriMark serves a nationwide clientele. With the exception of where Travis cites Oregon statutes, we felt that this article could be highly beneficial to personal injury victims throughout the United States, so we are featuring it here.

After a pandemic-induced quiet year in 2020, last year saw a lot of action on the mass tort front. In 2021, we saw $11 billion in Roundup settlements and over a dozen bellwether test trials in various MDL class action lawsuits.

It appears 2022 will be a very eventful year for mass torts. We could see global settlements in two or maybe three major mass tort MDLs, including the biggest of them all, the 3M Earplugs MDL.

Let’s talk about what we can expect in 2022 in the mass tort class action lawsuits with the highest predicted settlement payouts.