As I previously noted in a post back in 2013, you can establish an Ohio Legacy Trust without giving up complete control of your assets.  Your Trust must be irrevocable and you cannot serve as your own Trustee.  But you can still maintain significant control over the assets in the Trust if you want to do so.

Ohio Revised Code §5816.05 specifically states that the Settlor (the person establishing the Trust) can reserve quite a few rights, including the right to:

  • veto distributions
  • remove the Trustee and appoint a new Trustee
  • remove any advisor and appoint a new advisor
  • receive trust income

Asset protection laws vary a lot from state to state.  But the other fifteen or so states that have domestic asset protection trust statutes also have provisions allowing the Settlor to retain a variety of powers when establishing such a Trust.