Legal Question in Wills and Trusts in New Jersey

If you establish and fund an irrevocable trust and the beneficiaries are your daughter and her children, then her spouse will have no right to the trust assets. This can protect her in the event of a divorce or death.

Create an irrevocable trust with only your daughter and grandchildren as beneficiaries. I can assist you as I have done this literally hundreds of times. There is one caution about which I should advise you. If your daughter or grandchildren utilize the trust while she is married, while your son-in-law will not have access to it and it will not be considered a marital asset for equitable distribution purposes, its value and income could come into play for alimony and child support purposes in the event of a divorce. This interplay between equitable distribution and alimony/child support takes some time to explain, so contact me for more information.

As others have mentioned, this is a very common trust. One thing I would like to add is that you can also create this type of trust under your Will if you are not ready to gift money to an irrevocable trust now. This would allow flexibility in case you wish to modify your plans later.

Best of luck,

Kevin A. Pollock, J.D., LL.M.

www.PollockAtLaw.com

P: (609) 818-1555

Licensed to practice law in Florida, New Jersey, New York and Pennsylvania.

Also, visit my blogs at:

http://WillsTrustsEstates.blogspot.com/

http://BaseballLaw.blogspot.com/

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