The beauty of estate planning is the knowledge that your intentions and wishes will be honored. With that in mind, many of our clients are becoming more and more specific with their intentions – some right down to dictating how they want their heirs to use their inheritance. This is best achieved through the use of trusts.
Along those lines, a growing trend in the estate planning community is the use of trusts to fund travel trips for heirs. As a recent Associated Press article points out, “Whether it's trying to make sure that their children stay in touch despite geographical distances, or wanting them to become acquainted with family roots in another country, some people are deciding that travel should be a part of their legacy.”
Travel-related trusts can cover travel broadly or be as specific as providing solely for studying abroad, supporting philanthropic work in a third-world country or visiting the homeland of ancestors. An experienced estate planning attorney will work with the creator of the trust to ensure that the terms are in accordance with their wishes.
In addition to really having a say in how your estate is used, another upside to allocating trust funds for a specific purpose, such as travel, is that it offers protection against the misuse of funds (i.e. blowing the money on an expensive new sports car) and protects against creditors, divorce, etc. There can also be tax advantages to using trusts vs. giving inheritances outright.
Curious about how you can incorporate the gift of travel into your estate plan? Contact Liz at liz@altmanbackup.peakperformance.dev or (301) 468-3220.