The Model Offshore Trust is open-ended. You can transfer additional amounts to it at any time. No gift or estate tax is due, as explained at Gift and Estate Tax Treatment.
You’re not limited to transferring cash. You can transfer virtually any investment — including stocks, bonds, precious metals, mutual fund shares, foreign currencies or life insurance. And they can go directly into the Trust or into an LLC the Trust owns.
You can transfer a family business to the Trust and continue to manage it. If the business is incorporated, simply transfer your shares to the Trust. If the business is a partnership, transfer a limited partnership interest to the Trust. If the business is a limited liability company, transfer your ownership interest in the LLC to the Trust. Or transfer any of those assets to an LLC owned by the Trust.
Bequests
If you wish, you can add to the Trust Fund through your will or make the Trust a beneficiary of your life insurance. Your Model Offshore Trust also can be used to receive the portion of your tax-deferred pension plan or IRA you don’t spend in your lifetime. If you have a living trust, A-B trusts or a marital deduction trust, you can amend it to eventually pour over into your Model Offshore Trust.
Transfers by Spouse
Anyone, not just the Grantor, may add to the Trust Fund.
The Model Terms of Trust provide special protections for transfers by the Spouse of the Grantor. A Spouse-Transferor has a right at any time to require the Trustee to move the contributed assets into a separate Trust over which the Spouse-Transferor will have all the powers of the Grantor and of the Protector.
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