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Trust Administration

A Collaborative, Comprehensive Approach To Trusts.

The Argent Wealth (formerly Pinnacle Wealth) approach to Trust Administration represents a collaborative and comprehensive approach to protecting your life’s asset achievements. Trusts are an efficient way to help protect your family’s future, while simultaneously providing for the future well-being of your beneficiaries. Ask us why you may want to include a trust as part of your estate.

What is a Trust

A trust is an agreement among a Creator (also known as the Grantor), a Trustee, and a Beneficiary or Beneficiaries in which property is given by the Creator to the Trustee to manage on behalf of the Beneficiaries. The Trustee manages the property according to the Creator’s wishes until the termination date, at which time the property is given to the Beneficiaries. A trust can reduce unnecessary legal fees, save tax dollars, and allow you to control your assets after your death.

A Corporate Trustee is a bank trust department or trust company. When you put your assets in a trust, a Corporate Trustee can help you to further build and protect your wealth through proper management techniques. Argent Wealth is committed to the personal understanding of your estate and your wishes, so that your beneficiaries can receive the maximum benefit in the event of your incapacitation or death.

Types of Trusts

Argent Wealth has a partnership for your corporate trustee needs on a multitude of different types of trusts. Before you dive into the information provided on each type of trust in the documents below, be sure to familiarize yourself with these trust terms that apply to all types of trusts.

 

Revocable or Irrevocable: A trust can either be revocable, meaning that the creator (grantor) retains the right to change the terms of the trust or revoke the trust entirely; or irrevocable, meaning that the trust’s creator gives up the right to change the terms of the trust. Irrevocable trusts generally provide some form of income, gift, or estate tax benefit, whereas revocable trusts normally do not provide any tax benefits. With rare exception, a revocable trust becomes irrevocable when the grantor dies.

Living or Testamentary: A trust that is created during the grantor’s life is called a living trust (sometimes referred to as “inter-vivos”); whereas a trust that is created through a person’s will is called a testamentary trust.

Termination: Trusts created in the United States must have a termination date. This principal, known as “the law against perpetuities,” means that the trust cannot last for generations, but must end and distribute its assets to all the remaining beneficiaries. The majority of states allow trusts to last for twenty-one years past the lifetime of the youngest named beneficiary.

Argent Wealth has more than 25 years experience with many types of trusts and works to build positive relationships with grantors and beneficiaries, including:

  • Revocable Living Trust
  • Irrevocable Life Insurance Trust
  • Testamentary Trusts
  • Marital Trusts
  • ByPass Trusts
  • Qualified Terminable Interest Property (QTIP) Trust
  • Irrevocable Life Insurance Trust (ILIT)
  • Grantor Retained Annuity Trust (GRAT)
  • Charitable Lead Annuity Trust (CLAT)
  • Charitable Remainder Annuity Trust (CRAT)
  • Charitable Remainder Unit Trust (GRUT)

Duties of a Trustee

A trustee is held to a high level of accountability and must adhere to the established standard of care. These standards, also known as “fiduciary duties,” are shown below.

Duty of loyalty — A trustee has a fundamental duty to administer a trust solely in the interests of the beneficiaries. A trustee must not engage in acts of self-dealing.

Duty of administration — The trustee must administer the trust in accordance with its terms, purposes, and the interests of the beneficiaries. A trustee must act prudently in the administration of a trust and exercise reasonable care, skill, and caution, as well as properly account for receipts and disbursements between principal and income.

Duty to control and protect trust property — The trustee must take reasonable steps to take control of and protect the trust property.

Duty to keep property separate and maintain adequate records — A trustee must keep trust property separate from the trustee’s property and keep and render clear and accurate records with respect to the administration of the trust.

Duty of impartiality — If a trust has two or more beneficiaries, the trustee must act impartially in investing, managing, and distributing the trust property, giving due regard to the beneficiaries’ respective interests.

Duty to enforce and defend claims — A trustee must take reasonable steps to enforce claims of the trust and to defend claims against the trust.

Duty to inform and report — A trustee must keep qualified trust beneficiaries reasonably informed about the administration of the trust and of the material facts necessary for them to protect their interests.

Duty of prudent investment — A trustee who invests and manages trust property has a duty to “invest and manage trust property as a prudent investor would, by considering the purposes, terms, distribution requirements, and other circumstances of the trust.

Working with an Attorney

Argent Wealth has long-lasting working relationships with the best estate planning attorneys in the United States. An attorney is a vital member of the estate planning team and is responsible for drafting your trust document. Argent Wealth will work directly with you and your chosen attorney to review the basic principles of estate planning, forecast estate distribution and transfer costs, spot potential financial risk areas, and prepare the estate documents. A collaborative approach to estate planning provides peace of mind and improved financial security for estate beneficiaries.

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