Frequently Asked Questions

A Will is an instrument that only takes legal effect upon your death. To transfer assets, a Will must be filed in probate court—making your family's assets, debts, and beneficiaries a matter of public public record. A Trust takes effect the moment it is signed and funded. It governs assets seamlessly during your life, provides instructions if you become incapacitated, and distributes property privately post-death without probate court delay.

A spendthrift clause prevents a beneficiary from transferring, pledging, or borrowing against their future interest in the trust before they actually receive it. It prevents creditors from attaching or foreclosing upon trust principal. However, it does not magically shield funds after the trustee distributes money into the beneficiary's personal bank account, nor can it typically be used retroactively to defraud existing creditors prior to trust creation.

No. Ewing Legal Group operates similarly to specialized trust document and wealth management solution providers. We focus exclusively on the structuring, document preparation, and educational coordination of trusts and ancillary estate vehicles. We do not engage in courtroom litigation or traditional legal practice. For ongoing fiscal administration, professional accountants oversee all entity accounting and prepare mandatory state and federal tax returns with meticulous regulatory accuracy.

Funding is the process of transferring title of your property (bank accounts, brokerage portfolios, real estate deeds, business shares) from your individual name into the name of the Trust. A trust document alone does not protect assets that were never retitled. We provide comprehensive re-titling checklists and coordinate with your custodian to ensure all accounts are successfully funded.

In a Revocable Living Trust, you typically serve as your own initial Trustee. In an irrevocable Spendthrift Trust designed for maximum creditor protection, our structures operate as non-grantor trusts where the grantor establishes the trust and signs off permanently at inception. An independent Trustee (a trusted family advisor, professional trustee, or institutional trust company) or co-trustee structure holds legal title and administers distributions under the trust's governing provisions, ensuring neither the grantor nor the beneficiary possesses unrestricted legal control.

Our spendthrift trusts are structured as non-grantor trusts, operating as independent legal and taxable entities once the grantor signs off at inception. They are structured to minimize federal estate and generation-skipping transfer (GST) taxes while achieving strategic tax mitigation year over year. Professional accountants actively optimize taxable income distributions, calculate Distributable Net Income (DNI) to prevent top-tier bracket compression, and prepare accurate annual Form 1041 returns.

When an inheritance passes through a properly drafted spendthrift trust, the assets remain separate, non-marital property under state law. Because your child does not own the trust principal and cannot demand liquidation, an estranged spouse generally cannot claim the trust principal during marital dissolution or equitable property division.

Nothing changes with your investment management. Ewing Legal Group does not offer investment advisory services or manage securities. Your brokerage accounts remain at your current custodian (Schwab, Fidelity, Pershing, etc.), and your wealth advisor continues executing your investment strategy. Our trust explicitly incorporates prudent investor language authorizing the trustee to retain your advisor.

Don't have an investment advisor? If you want to establish a trust but do not currently have financial counsel, you can still get started. We maintain close collaborative relationships with vetted affiliate wealth advisors who understand spendthrift trust mechanics and can introduce you to experienced professionals to guide your investments.

Yes. Spendthrift trusts frequently serve as the ultimate holding vehicle for operating business LLCs, family limited partnerships (FLPs), residential properties, commercial real estate, and private equity investments.

While Ewing Legal Group is based in Alpine, Utah, our spendthrift trusts are written and structured under the governing laws of the State of Nevada. Nevada is recognized nationally by wealth planners and estate practitioners as the premier domestic trust jurisdiction, offering gold-standard statutory spendthrift protection, zero state fiduciary income tax, and highly developed legal precedents that insulate trust principal from outside claims across all 50 states.

As a general rule, we recommend reviewing your trust structure every 3 to 5 years, or whenever a major life event occurs: the birth of a child, marriage, divorce, sale of a significant business or real estate asset, relocation to another state, or substantial shifts in federal tax exemption thresholds.

Our secure ShareFile Client Portal (accessible at ewinglegalgroup.sharefile.com) is our encrypted vault for document exchange. Clients and advisors use it to upload prior wills, asset deeds, financial statements, and review drafts securely without exposing sensitive family data over unencrypted email.

From our initial discovery consultation to delivery of execution-ready drafts, most custom spendthrift trust packages are completed within 2 to 4 weeks, depending on the complexity of assets and how quickly family intake information is provided.