Arlo transfers all of his real estate (worth about $5 million) into an irrevocable living trust, for estate-planning purposes. Arlo is the initial beneficiary of the trust - getting income that is generated from the property rentals, but the trustee has discretion over how much income is actually released to Arlo. His attorney acts as the Trustee for the trust. At Arlo's death, Arlo's daughter, Katrina will take over as beneficiary. When Katrina dies, all of the trust assets will be distributed to her children (Arlo's grandchildren). At the time of this transfer, Arlo has no outstanding debts. Five years after setting up the trust, Arlo is sued regarding a car accident, for which he was at fault. The plaintiff gets a judgment against Arlo for $3 million. Unfortunately, Arlo's liability insurance policy had a limit of only $1 million. The insurance company has paid the plaintiff the full $1 million that they were responsible for. Now the plaintiff wants to get the real estate that Arlo transferred into the living trust five years earlier. Result?
a. The trustee of the trust will have to hand over enough of the real estate to the plaintiff, to cover the remaining $2 million that Arlo owes to the plaintiff.
b. The trustee of the trust will not have to give anything to the plaintiff, because the real estate is no longer in Arlo's name.