Estate planning is your opportunity to shape the future—to identify the people and causes you want to help and to outline how you would like them to use the assets they receive. While many people look to a will to accomplish those objectives, trusts are a very flexible and powerful estate planning tool—one that may also help you avoid probate, maintain privacy and preserve more of your assets for the people and causes that matter most to you.
“Trusts are, in many ways, the most powerful and important tool in estate and financial planning.”1
| Haven't created an estate plan? | Considering a trust? | An outdated estate plan? | Want to provide for incapacity? |
Haven’t found the time to create an estate plan?
You are not alone. Your Merrill Lynch advisor can help take the mystery out of the process and make it less daunting by helping you identify steps you may want to take and strategies you may want to discuss with your estate planning attorney and tax advisor. And, if a trust is something that you and your legal and tax advisors agree would be useful, your Merrill Lynch advisor can discuss the range of services that U.S. Trust provides.
We encourage you to schedule a meeting with your Merrill Lynch advisor to talk about your goals for the future and identify steps you may want to take now to help address them. As you prepare for that meeting, you may find the following resources helpful.
Does Your Estate Plan Reflect Your Current Circumstances and Vision?
Wealth Structuring and Estate Planning
Implementing Your Vision for the Future: Trust and Estate Planning Services
Overview of Basic Estate Planning Documents
Wondering if a trust is something you should consider?
Your Merrill Lynch advisor is there to help you understand the variety of goals that clients address using trusts—whether it’s to provide for loved ones in the event of the unexpected, to minimize state or federal wealth transfer taxes, provide for professional management of assets or plan for incapacity. Your Merrill Lynch advisor would welcome the opportunity to discuss your goals for your wealth, whether a trust might be useful and the ways in which U.S. Trust may be able to help. You may find the video Four Reasons To Use a Trust useful.
Wondering if your existing estate plan still meets your needs?
Estate plans can become outdated for many reasons. Tax laws change. Children marry and have families of their own. You may have purchased property in a different state or moved. Your assets may have grown to the stage where you are more concerned about whether those inheriting funds will use them wisely. Or, you may be more concerned about incapacity than you were when your plan was first drawn up. Your Merrill Lynch advisor can help, by reviewing the changes that have occurred since your plan was last updated and identifying any issues or opportunities you may want to address with your estate planning attorney or tax advisor. You may find Does Your Estate Plan Reflect Your Current Circumstances and Vision? useful in helping you identify changes that might make a review important.
Interested in simple steps you can take to provide for incapacity?
Most well-crafted estate plans include provisions that anticipate a time when you may no longer want to or may no longer be able to manage you financial affairs as you do today. A trust may help. They can be structured to allow you to manage the funds for as long as you wish, but make it easy for a trustee to step in should you need assistance. Talk to your Merrill Lynch advisor to find out more about how clients are using revocable living to anticipate their needs and how U.S. Trust may be able to help.
Three common misconceptions about estate plans
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As part of Bank of America Corporation, Merrill Lynch and U.S. Trust work together to bring you the capabilities of a premier global investment firm and one of the nation’s leading trust organizations. Your Merrill Lynch advisor can work with you on an approach designed to provide the specific services you need in the way that works for you. The result is a relationship supported by the investment insights of Merrill Lynch and the deep fiduciary experience of U.S. Trust — a relationship dedicated to helping you address your unique goals and priorities. |
1 Source: Jonathan G. Blattmachr and Douglas J. Blattmachr: Even Without Estate Tax the Right Answer Is Still the Same, Put It All in Trust, Steve Leimberg’s Estate Planning Newsletter, December 15, 2016.
Merrill Lynch, U.S. Trust and their affiliates and advisors do not provide legal, tax or accounting advice. You should consult your legal and/or tax advisors before making any financial decisions.
Merrill Lynch Wealth Management makes available products and services offered by Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith Incorporated (“MLPF&S”), a registered broker-dealer, Member SIPC, and other subsidiaries of Bank of America Corporation (“BofA Corp.”)
Trust and fiduciary services are provided by U.S. Trust, a division of Bank of America, N.A., Member FDIC, and a wholly owned subsidiary of BofA Corp.
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