You have spent years building businesses and supporting your family. Now that your children are raising families of their own, you may want your assets to help your grandchildren and even future generations.
Trusts allow you to guide how assets move and how beneficiaries receive support. Maryland law recognizes several types of trusts; you may use them to manage assets across generations. The right structure depends on your goals, your assets and your family’s needs.
Planning for multigenerational control and flexibility
Following the Maryland Trust Act, trusts can help you shape how your wealth supports your family if you have properly funded it and drafted it for continuing administration. You can set rules for how a trustee manages and distributes assets, which may guide how your children or grandchildren receive funds.
Trusts can also reduce the role of probate. In Maryland, the probate process takes place through the Register of Wills and assets titled in a properly funded trust may pass outside that process.
Families with businesses often value this structure because it can help keep ownership interests stable and guide how future generations benefit from those assets.
Trust structures families often explore in Maryland
Maryland law allows several trust structures. You may review these common options when building a long-term estate plan:
- Revocable living trusts: These allow you to manage assets during life and direct how they pass after death
- Irrevocable trusts: These may transfer assets out of your taxable estate and may provide stronger long-term protection
- Generation-skipping trusts: These help direct wealth to grandchildren or later generations while considering tax planning
- Special needs trusts: These support a loved one with disabilities while considering different first-party and third-party payback rules
- Testamentary trusts: These are created in a will and take effect during the Maryland probate process
Each type of trust works in a different way and supports a different type of planning goal.
Building a legacy that lasts
More than passing down assets, you may want to guide how wealth supports your children, grandchildren and the family businesses that follow.
Trusts can offer that structure under Maryland law and each option carries different legal and tax effects. Thoughtful planning can help ensure your legacy continues to serve your family long after your lifetime.