By Tucker Swiastyn | October 14, 2019
Recognize the Need
Recently, we had the opportunity to help an RIA guide her clients through their estate planning. Sending your clients to an estate planning attorney without guidance can often leave them with daunting responsibilities they were not expecting.
Our Trust Consultants can help direct you in understanding the duties of a trustee and corporate trustee services under a directed trust model. With your gained knowledge, you will be able to recognize the opportunity and take the lead to address your client’s concerns. We can help you guide them to financial security through your trusted services.
In this advisor’s case, her client and his wife recently obtained millions of dollars in cash through the selling of their business. Now in retirement, the clients have concerns regarding their unexpected gain and how it might affect their two daughters. In the case of the clients, they wish to incentivize their daughters to work towards specific goals in their careers. The clients also expressed that they desire to make charitable gifts to a specific hospital.
The advisor noticed that the client’s current estate plan was inadequate to address the issues that they raised. At this point, if anything were to happen to the client and his wife simultaneously, their daughters would inherit millions of dollars outright. Any support for the hospital would be lost. Both outcomes are opposite to the client’s wishes.
Work with a Trust Consultant
Instead of sending the clients directly to an estate planning attorney alone, the advisor reached out to one of our Trust Consultants to understand the duties of a trustee. With the Trust Consultant’s direction and the advisor’s newly gained knowledge, she was able to lead a meeting with her clients and an estate attorney. Together, they worked to create trusts that would best serve her clients and their wishes.
Through the Consultants’ trusted guidance, the advisor was able to direct the attorney to:
- Create trusts for their daughters to incentivize milestone achievements and benefits at the death of the survivor of the clients
- Establish a Charitable remainder Trust (CRT) for the hospital, allowing them to make gifts whenever desired during their lives including remainder assets paid to the hospital after their death (this includes a benefit of tax deduction to offset the recent windfall)
- Name their trusted RIA as their investment advisor under all their trusts and our Trust Consultant as the administrative trustee on all their trusts
Reap the Benefits
The clients were eager to tell their friends about their advisor’s trusted stewardship. She received several referrals through the successful opportunity in guiding them to financial security.
When considering what is in your client’s best interest, you as their financial advisor know what the client needs more than anyone else. As your Trust Consultant, we know what you need to best serve your client and their goals. You are your client’s trusted advisor, and we are your trusted advisor.
Contact a Trust Consultant now for trusted guidance in trust services.
Trust Consultant Team:
TrustConsultant@nationaladvisorstrust.com