Course 3.5 · 55 minutes

Trusts for Children and Heirs: Protecting an Inheritance and Paying Trust Taxes

Design trusts that protect an inheritance from immaturity, divorce, and creditors, and understand how trust income is taxed so you do not overpay.

Who it is for: Parents and grandparents leaving more than the kids can handle at once.
Runtime: 55 minutes

Pre-order: this course is in development and appears in your portal the day it is released. Buy 5 or more and every course is 30% off.

See the full track See the full curriculum

Instant download after payment. Nothing is withheld for a later purchase.

What you receive

Trust Design decision tree
Trust Provision Menu: plain-English descriptions of the clauses with drafting notes
Trust Income Tax Calculator, accumulate versus distribute (Excel)
Trustee Selection worksheet
Beneficiary Information letter template
The narrated lesson. 55 minutes, cued to the deck, with chapter markers by lesson. Emailed to you the day it publishes, at no extra cost.

What the course covers

01Why leave money in trust: age, divorce, creditors, disability, and blended families7 min
02Design choices: ages versus lifetime, the support standard, independent trustees, spendthrift clauses, and trust protectors10 min
03Special needs trusts and government benefits5 min
04How trusts pay tax: the compressed brackets, distributable net income, and the 65-day rule10 min
05The kiddie tax and state trust taxes5 min
06Worked example: a 2 million dollar trust for two children, accumulate versus distribute8 min
07Tricks of the trade: distributing to lower brackets, the 65-day election, and drafting discretion well5 min
08Mistakes and traps: mandatory income at 21, the beneficiary-trustee with too much power, and IRA payouts5 min

How it fits: Requires 3.1 and 3.2. Pairs with 6.6 (asset protection) and 3.6.

The standard every course holds

A narrated lesson of 45 to 60 minutes, produced as audio
A designed slide deck you download and keep
A computational workbook that runs the actual legal tests
A toolkit of checklists and protocols
A legal authority appendix carrying the two-pass vetting protocol

Written for a diligent reader with no legal education. Professionally narrated using a studio voice model of Brian T. Boyd. The course is recorded instruction, not a live consultation.

Where this course sits

Track 3: Estate Planning

This course is one step in a track built around a single outcome. See the full build order and the other courses that get you there.

Back to this track

Educational material from the private client curriculum of Brian T. Boyd. This is legal education for a general audience, not legal advice, and no attorney-client relationship is created by purchasing, viewing, or using it. Tax outcomes depend on your facts and your state.