Again, these two features are related. Protection from creditors results from lacking control over the assets. It's not something that happens just because a trust exists. More protection necessitates less control. If you don't trust your heirs to avoid incurring large liabilities, then I'd respectfully submit you do have some desire to control this money from the grave.Ideally I'd like to give them control over their trust assets without strings. I have no wish to control them from the grave. While, at the same time, leaving those assets in a trust to protect them from creditors and divorce.
Protection of an inheritance in divorce is different, and it's hard to overstate how much it varies by state law and the specifics of the marriage. So it's hard to plan for, beyond advising them to manage their affairs with this in mind. But generally: the more discretion you give your children, the more you're enabling them to make choices which could put some or all of their inheritance into the marital estate (an obvious possibility is "buy a house with my husband, using my trust money and some of his money").
There are of course middle-ground options you can discuss with your lawyer, as others have noted here. But the fundamental tradeoff is between "discretion to do things I'd like my children to do with the money" and "discretion to do things I'd rather they not do with the money".
Statistics: Posted by Eventually — Sat Jan 17, 2026 10:25 am — Replies 22 — Views 1136