Should I have an irrevocable life insurance trust (ilit) to protect my death benefit after divorce?
After a divorce, you may not be sure what to do with your life insurance policy death benefit. It is possible that your children may be too young to take the benefit and use it responsibly or that you have no close family members and have left an attorney in charge of your estate. No matter what your individual situation is, an irrevocable life insurance trust (ILIT) could be a great solution. In an ILIT, the trust is named both owner and beneficiary of your life insurance policy and the trustee determines what happens to your life insurance death benefit once it is paid to the trust or executes standing instructions that you build into the trust. You can do this when you set up the trust documents with your attorney. Simply instruct him or her to write in specific instructions for payment of your benefits. The policy is owned by the trust and that can never be changed. This arrangement can give you greater control over the asset after your death because you can decide how and when you
