Divorce in New York or elsewhere often throws up multiple and complex questions for impending exes engaged in the dissolution process.
Here’s one that was posed in a recent Asterita & Associates blog post. We highlighted this query in our long-established family law firm’s January 20 entry: “How can substantial and already existing assets be safeguarded in the event that marital bliss evaporates and the divorce process takes center stage?”
That’s not always an easily answered question. Every divorce scenario differs. Some parties might opt to execute a prenuptial agreement, for example, but the required disclosure of all assets linked with that instrument makes it less than routinely optimal.
Candidly, some individuals who have amassed substantial wealth prior to marriage want to keep the details under wraps. The above-cited blog post underscores that, “They would rather avoid casting a broad spotlight on every wealth source and its coupled valuation.”
Luckily, there is often a way for them to do that, and it centrally links to estate planning and a tailored strategy.
In a nutshell, some parties seeking to retain privacy surrounding pre-marital wealth and simultaneously safeguard it for the future might reasonably consider the broad-based utility and flexibility offered by a trust.
The financial publication Kiplinger does just that in a recent article that focuses specifically on one trust variant. An irrevocable trust provides for the following:
- Asset ownership residing not in a marrying party but, rather, in the created trust itself
- Trust asset distribution to named heirs and/or beneficiaries in the future carried out per a creator’s instructions
- Ability for a creator to later be named by the instrument’s trustee as a beneficiary
- Enhanced privacy controls over trust property
Trust planning “can be very complex,” notes a New York legal source addressing the common interaction between family law and estate planning matters. Questions or concerns regarding the above subject matter or other family-linked issue can be directed to a proven and results-oriented legal team.
