Trust Services
A Trust Can Help…
- Provide an orderly means of administering your personal and financial affairs should you become incapacitated, or upon death
- Ensure that your assets are managed for the benefit of your heirs, according to your wishes
- Manage your estate tax exposure and avoid probate costs
- Provide for a relative or disabled child after your death
- Protect assets from a creditor’s claims
- Assemble a tax-advantaged charitable gift
What Does a Tustee Do?
The trustee’s role is to administer and distribute the assets in the trust according to your wishes, as expressed in the trust document. There are three primary elements to the trustee’s role:
Custody
The custodial role is that of a financial secretary and security guard. The trustee must identify and then take title to the trust’s assets, keep accurate records, report to the current beneficiaries, execute and settle all transactions, protect and insure the property and defend the trust against claimants. The trustee oversees the preparation of appropriate tax returns and all of the trust accounting in compliance with complex state and federal laws.
Asset Management
The trustee is ultimately responsible for the preservation and investment of assets in the trust, ensuring that invested assets are productive and managed appropriately given the trust’s objectives. The trustee has the legal responsibility to reassess the objectives of the trust and current market conditions at least annually and to be sure that the investments match those objectives. Trustees will often hire professional managers to handle the day-to-day specialized activities such as securities investment or real estate management.
Administration
The administrative role is central to carrying out your wishes regarding the use of assets in the trust. The trustee carries out your directions and follows your guidelines in handling the specific circumstances of each request for funds from trust beneficiaries. This involves legal interpretation of the language in the document and appropriate input from family members. Experienced and unbiased trust administration and record keeping are vital components to implementing your plan.
Why Use a Professional Trustee?
Trustees may have to make tough decisions that might not be popular with all your beneficiaries. After all, the trustee is carrying out your instructions, not your beneficiaries’ wishes. This can be a difficult role to fulfill for a family member, who may not be unbiased, or may wish to act in a manner that avoids hard feelings within the family, rather than carrying out your instructions. Also, few family members have investment management skills or expertise in fiduciary law and practice. Family members can be given important advisory roles, in approving disbursements, for example, or other exercises of discretion.
The Benefits of Naming a Professional Trustee Include:
- Unbiased loyalty and independence to carry out your wishes.
- Knowledgeable management, protection and defense of trust assets
- Experienced oversight of the investment process to be carried out by your financial advisor
- Timely and accurate statements of the account to keep you and all current beneficiaries informed
- Consistent annual reviews.
- Accountable collection and prudent distribution of income and assets
- Tax reporting, filing and comprehensive regulatory compliance on behalf of the trust.
Why Use The Private Trust Company?
The Private Trust Company is an independent trust company dedicated to the administration of trusts and other family wealth arrangements such as family offices, businesses and foundations. The Private Trust Company dedicates its attention to serving the clients of financial advisors, delivering trust services and applying their high-quality service to every step of the trust administration process.
Advantages of Choosing The Private Trust Company
- Experienced and knowledgeable trust officers with back grounds in law, accounting, banking, investment management, tax and business.
- Trust officers who are sophisticated professionals with objective family sensitivities.
- Chartered as a national bank devoted solely to trust services or families.
- Regulated and examined by the Comptroller of the Currency, audited by independent auditors and bonded to protect your assets.
- Able to provide trust services in all 50 states.
- The Private Trust Company is designed to work with your financial advisor as a team player, providing timely and accurate statements to you and your other advisors.
- The Private Trust Company helps you develop a written investment policy statement to provide a clear understanding of your goals, objectives and guidelines for the trust.
- Accounts are reviewed annually and investment policies are revised as appropriate to reflect changes to the portfolio, client circumstances and markets.
- LPL Financial advisors offer access to trust services through The Private Trust Company N.A., and affiliate of LPL Financial.