There is One in Every Family: Why You Need a Corporate Trustee

 

Let’s face it there is ONE in every family. Just sit down at the dinner table and watch the family dynamics unfold.  There are always siblings that don’t get along. At the table, there might be the ultra-successful sibling, the alcoholic of the family, the one with gambling addiction, the special needs child, the grandparents that constantly bring up the past, or the one contentious adult that disagrees with everything anyone says.

At Premier Trust, we always say estate planning is 10% legal and 90% personal.  A trust document isn’t worth the paper it’s printed on without the family dynamics included. When the grantors pass away, keeping the family dynamics together is the biggest hurdle for most families to overcome.  Does mom or dad give the “honor” of being trustee to the oldest child, or as we like to call it the “burden”? The horror stories we have seen when this happens are almost hard to believe. Picking a successor trustee for your revocable trust might be the most important decision in your family’s estate plan for keeping the peace.  At Premier Trust, we recommend selecting an independent third party corporate trustee for many reasons.

These include:

• Trusts are complex legal documents with major tax and family implications. Corporate trustees have the knowledge and expertise in handling the complexities of trust administration. If you were in a lawsuit you would not have your oldest son the doctor as your attorney, would you? You would go hire a competent attorney to be your counsel. Trust administration is no different. Putting the burden of successor trustee on a family member is no honor and anyone who has been through it will most likely agree.
• Trust administration requires specific financial reporting. A corporate trustee has the financial and operational systems to provide timely accurate statements and meet regulatory and beneficiary requirements.
• Trusts can continue on for several generations. Corporate trustees have a perpetual life, we do not die. Also, corporate trustees do not go through the distracting and personal issues within the family like an individual family trustee would.
• Trust administration requires a high level of fiduciary responsibility. A corporate trustee is regulated by state and federal government agencies and held to a much higher standard than that of an individual trustee.

Distribution of trust assets can be emotional, and having a third party trustee that is not affected by personal agendas or emotions can help guide your family during this most emotional and difficult time.

If you have any questions or would like any information email us at info@premiertrust.com or call us at 702-577-1777. Work with a Company You can Trust.