Wills, Trusts and Estate Planning Attorney in Chesterton, IN

Plan for the long-term well-being and financial security of your family with the help of our Chesterton, Indiana based law firm which practices extensively in Porter, Lake and La Porte Counties in Indiana as well as Illinois and Michigan (where Mr. Sawyier is also licensed) . We will thoroughly analyze your estate and strategize the best ways to transfer your assets and minimize taxes, as well as establish guardianship for children and adults as necessary.  We can also assist in all aspect of charitable gift planning, including charitable annuities, charitable lead trusts and charitable remainder trusts.

With an irrevocable trust, the details cannot be altered by the "grantor" after its creation. However, a great deal of flexibility can nevertheless be built into such trusts (such as Irrevocable Life insurance Trusts), by means of such devices as "trust protectors" .

Through careful tax planning including allocations of the grantors' Generation Skipping Transfer Tax at the time of creation of such trust, the assets in such trusts can be sheltered from any estate or gift taxes after their creation, even as they pass down from generation to generation.

However,  many forms of property, such as jointly owned property or property that is subject to a beneficiary designation are not probate property, and thus are not controlled by a will. It is important to keep this distinction in mind because wills do not control such property at all.  For example, a father might want funds in his IRA account to pass on to his children, but he has listed someone else as the beneficiary. In this case the beneficiary designation would supersede the will and his wishes would not be carried out. That is why it important that we deal with ALL property held by an individual to make sure everything is covered.