Trust Attorney in Las Vegas

Types of Trusts We Handle in Las Vegas

Different goals call for different trust structures. Our trust lawyers in Las Vegas work with you to identify the structure that fits your circumstances.

Revocable Living Trusts
You retain control while you’re living and can amend or revoke the trust as circumstances change. Assets properly transferred to it can pass to beneficiaries without going through probate.

Irrevocable Trusts
An irrevocable trust offers more limited modification options than a revocable trust. Depending on its structure and how assets are transferred, it can support tax planning and long-term asset protection goals.

Nevada Self-Settled Spendthrift Trusts
Authorized under Nevada Revised Statutes Chapter 166, a Chapter 166 trust allows you to fund a trust for your own benefit while helping protect those assets from future creditors, subject to Nevada’s statutory creditor periods and applicable federal law.

Special Needs Trusts
This trust can provide supplemental financial support for a beneficiary with disabilities while addressing eligibility considerations for government benefits such as Medicaid and Supplemental Security Income. Careful drafting aligns distributions with the beneficiary’s needs and applicable benefit rules.

Testamentary Trusts
Created through a will and taking effect at death, testamentary trusts are often used for minor children or beneficiaries who would benefit from managed distributions over time rather than a lump-sum inheritance.

Charitable & Life Insurance Trusts

Charitable trusts direct assets toward charitable purposes under terms established by the person creating the trust. Their structure depends on the intended gift, retained interests, beneficiaries, and applicable tax requirements.

An irrevocable life insurance trust holds a life insurance policy for the beneficiaries named in the trust. Because ownership, beneficiary designations, and policy administration affect how this structure operates, it requires coordinated legal and tax planning.

How a Revocable Living Trust Works

You create the trust and fund it by transferring assets into it. You typically serve as both trustee, holding legal title and managing the assets, and beneficiary, meaning the assets are held for your benefit. While living and competent, you can amend or revoke the trust. At death, the trust becomes irrevocable, and a successor trustee steps in to administer and distribute the assets as directed, generally without court approval, disclosure, or oversight.

Proper funding is critical. For trust-based probate avoidance to apply, titled assets such as real property, bank accounts, and investment accounts must be transferred into the trust. A revocable living trust doesn’t shield assets from creditors while you’re living because you retain control and benefit during that period. Nevada law provides additional options for clients who need creditor protection.

Nevada Trust Formation Options

Nevada’s trust statutes give Las Vegas residents several options for protecting and transferring wealth. The framework includes favorable tax treatment, long-duration trusts, and tools for adapting qualifying irrevocable trusts as circumstances change.

• Nevada tax treatment: Nevada imposes no state income tax and no state estate or gift tax.
• Self-settled spendthrift trusts: Nevada Revised Statutes Chapter 166 establishes creditor periods for qualifying transfers.
• Dynasty trusts: Nevada permits trusts to last up to 365 years, supporting multigenerational wealth preservation strategies.
• Decanting: Nevada allows irrevocable trusts to be modified by transferring assets into a new trust without court approval in many circumstances, providing flexibility when life changes.

Our Trust Planning & Funding Process

We begin by identifying the trust structure that fits your assets, beneficiary circumstances, control preferences, and goals. Once you select a structure, we draft the documents and assist with funding the completed trust so it operates as intended.

Funding requires attention to how each asset is owned. Real property, bank accounts, and investment accounts have different transfer requirements, so signing the trust document alone doesn’t complete the process.

Nevada Trust Law & Long-Term Planning

Nevada’s trust tools have structure-specific requirements, and state creditor periods must be considered separately from federal bankruptcy law. For a Nevada self-settled spendthrift trust, NRS 166.170 generally gives a creditor existing when a transfer is made two years after the transfer or six months after discovering it, whichever is later, to bring an action. A creditor arising after the transfer generally has two years after the transfer.

Federal bankruptcy law separately permits review of certain trust transfers made with actual intent to hinder, delay, or defraud creditors for up to 10 years.