About

Who publishes this

Understand Trusts is published by Madgett Law, LLC, a Minnesota law firm. David J.S. Madgett is the attorney responsible for its content (Minnesota license #390494).

We say that plainly and at the top because the alternative — a consumer education site that turns out to be marketing for a law firm you find out about later — is exactly the pattern this site was built to be the opposite of.

Reading this site does not make you a client and does not create an attorney-client relationship. Nothing here is advice about your situation. Under the rules that govern Minnesota lawyers, this site is attorney advertising, and it says so on every page.

Why it exists

Trusts are one of the most oversold products in consumer legal services. The sales presentation is decades old and largely unchanged: probate is described as a catastrophe, a living trust is described as the cure, and four or five specific claims are made about what the trust will accomplish. Several of those claims are false, and one of the most common — that a revocable trust puts your property beyond the reach of your creditors — is false in a way that can cost someone their house.

A trust is a genuinely useful instrument for a great many families. It is also unnecessary for a great many others, who can accomplish the same thing with a recorded deed and a set of beneficiary forms. The difference between those two groups is knowable in advance. This site exists so that someone can work it out before they are sitting across from someone selling a plan.

What this site does not do

• It does not sell trusts, plans, documents, templates, or forms.
• It does not take a fee, commission, or referral payment from anyone.
• It does not collect your information. There are no forms, no accounts, no newsletter signup, no analytics, and no third-party scripts of any kind.
• It does not tell you what to do about your situation, because it cannot know your situation.

Minnesota first

Trust law is state law and the differences matter. Rather than write general national content that is vague enough to be true everywhere, this site covers Minnesota specifically — the probate code, the Minnesota Trust Code, homestead treatment, the state estate tax, and the ways Minnesota differs from the states that market themselves as trust-friendly. Where a general principle applies broadly, it says so.

Corrections

If something here is wrong, it should be fixed. Statutes change and articles go stale. Write to Madgett Law, LLC and the page will be corrected or, if it is right, the source will be shown.