Planning your estate in California is the best way to ensure the smooth transition of your assets. You want to ensure that your surviving spouse and children are cared for. You also want to preserve as much of your holdings as possible. There are several methods that you can adopt if you are married. One of them is a bypass trust.
What is a bypass trust?
A bypass trust is one of the most useful tools you can make use of in estate planning. This is a special kind of legal arrangement that can meet the needs of married couples. A bypass trust is set up to allow them to avoid estate taxes on certain assets. However, the arrangement thus concocted is one that only takes effect when one spouse passes away.
When one of the spouses passes, the estate assets are split into a pair of separate trusts. The first part will consist of all of the combined marital assets. This is the “A” trust. The second is a bypass, family, or “B” trust.
Can a spouse act as the trustee?
You are entitled to create a bypass trust that allows either spouse to act as the trustee when the other one passes. You can also have a close friend or family member to be in charge. The main duty of a trustee will be to see that the assets from the state are apportioned fairly. Each of the assets has their own place in the trust.
The trustee is also empowered to manage the assets in the trust. The methods used to do so will be outlined by the terms that the trust creators have set. Trustees also oversee the distribution of these assets.