Is there such a thing as an irrevocable maintenance trust fund?

A fellow caregiver asked...

Is there such a thing as an irrevocable maintenance trust fund? In regard to dictionary definitions of irrevocable, why would a trust not be kept at a steady amount in order to allow continual funding to the beneficiary?

Expert Answer

Liza Hanks is the founder and owner of FamilyWorks Estate Planning, a law firm with offices in Campbell and Los Altos, California, and the author of The Busy Family's Guide to Estate Planning (Nolo, 2007).

An irrevocable trust is one that can't be taken back or "revoked" after it's established.

Such a trust can be set up to operate in a number of different ways, depending on the trustmaker's goals and the trust beneficiary's needs.

It can provide a steady stream of income to a beneficiary, which is sometimes called a unitrust. Or proceeds can be distributed as a percentage of the trust, which can rise or fall with the trust's investment performance. Or the trust can be set up to allow the trustee to use discretion to distribute proceeds for whatever a beneficiary needs.