[oldManRiver]

Incorporate. Seriously.

Setup a corporation owned by a trust, all your assets go into the corporation. If you have a catastrophic life changing event, your base will be secure.

You can also rent your home back from yourself and write off things you can't do as a homeowner (depreciation, upgrades, interest, etc.).

Moving your assets to their own entity is how you protect them. Should something go wrong, you have no assets for them to come after as they're owned by the trust. You can use your lifetime estate giving to help avoid taxes on the first few million. Plus if you're putting things in there before they've appreciated over decades, it will be at a lower cost basis as well.

Discuss this with an accountant and attorney that understands trusts and the tax implications of course.

[refurb]

My understanding is that unless you have a lot of assets, it's not worth setting up a trust as the upkeep is costly.

[oldManRiver]

If your assets will be over 5.4 million (the current exempt amount from estate taxes) for a couple you should have a trust, if you're no where near that, then yes, a trust for your home alone is pointless. The business write-off part still stands.