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Trust is the key to any healthy, sustainable relationship. So when does a couple, married or otherwise, come to a defining moment in their relationship when the unspoken romantic notion of "trust" becomes tested? Will it fracture the relationship or prompt them to get married? Sometimes the latter includes some clever drafting on behalf of their attorney in the form of a Trust. What necessitates a husband, or wife, who has money, assets and property, to change the nature of their relationship from trust to a binding Trust? To put it another way, at what point is there a (temporary) breakdown in trust that requires the creation of a Trust to enable the relationship and shared financial enterprise to move forward? Or, at what point can a couple, secure in their financial wellbeing, look toward the future to provide for those that they will one day leave behind? A Trust is an agreement that allows a trustee to hold assets for a beneficia- ry(s), spelling out the standards that people adhere to for property held in your "trust." ere are numerous types of Trusts. 1. e couple may be going into a joint business together (anything from owning a restaurant, law firm or simply renting out the family home or invest - ment property) and want asset protec- tion from outside creditors. 2. e wealthier spouse may want to include asset protection that cannot be contested (we layer the Trust with a pre- nup against the non-monied spouse). Oentimes, these Trusts are draed with a floating spouse provision. ere- by, in the event a Complaint for Di- vorce is filed, the trustfund stops being accessible to the "floating spouse." 3. e married couple want to pro - tect and provide for their children outside of the court system. e Trust builds a family constitution which is private and not privy to the Surrogate's court entanglements. ese are but a few of the options available. ere are many other differ - ent kinds of Trusts, each with their own purpose and reasoning. Certain Trusts hold assets outside of the reach of po- tential creditors, others pass wealth down between generations. ere are revocable Trusts, which can be set up by the Trustee. ese can inure to their own benefit, and can be broken (and the assets subsequently distributed) upon the occurrence of a reason (or no reason). ere are Irrevocable Trusts, which, as their name implies, are ir - revocable once made by the Grant- or. ese Trusts generally hold assets, many times the death benefit of a life insurance policy, which, when fund- ed, are paid to the beneficiaries of the Trust. ese processes are all forms of Estate Planning and an effort to limit the size of an estate. ere are also Trusts called Qualified Personal Residence Trusts (or QPRTs). An interesting vehicle, a QPRT can hold title to a piece of real property for a specified term of years, with the Grantor continuing to live in the prop - erty. Upon the death of the Grantor, or the passage of the term of years, the property then passes automatically to the beneficiaries, who are generally the children of the Grantor. If the Grantor is still living, the QPRT generally al - lows for them to continue to live in the home, while paying "reasonable rent" to the beneficiaries; rent which is sup- posed to be quantified based on market rent, but rarely is. One of the purposes of these Trusts is to take certain pieces of real property out of the 'estate' of the Grantor. As one can surmise, when looking to take the next step in your relation - ship, to look to the next stage in life, or to plan for those who you would like to provide for in the future, we advise to take "trust" in Trusts. If you haven't considered one, it is important to un- derstand that without one you could be making a critical Estate Planning mistake or worse — this goes especially for those with a substantial amount of assets. Trusts play a vital role in protect - ing your wealth and if you plan on hav- ing a family, it is imperative to ensure the wellbeing of your family's future. Trust in Trusts By Karolina Dehnhard, Esq. and Natalie Elisha, Esq. What are Trusts and why are they important? VUE ON FORTUNE V U E N J . C O M 121

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