Trusts
A significant step toward effective estate planning and wealth management for your immediate family and future generations is to establish a trust. With years of specialized experience in estate planning, estate settlements, and trust administration, Counsel Trust (together with your legal counsel) can customize a trust to fulfill your planning needs and goals.
- As owner of the trust, you can name anyone as trustee, including yourself. The trustee manages trust assets and is responsible for trust administration as outlined in the trust document.
- You can also name a professional trustee such as Counsel Trust Company to serve as sole trustee, co-trustee, or successor trustee.
- As a professional trustee, we offer a complete package of fiduciary services combined with expert investment management and consulting through our affiliate firm, ECA Investment Group.
- We understand the role of trustee and have extensive investment, tax, and legal expertise.
- Counsel Trust faithfully follows your expressed estate planning desires, even as family circumstances change from year to year.
- Our chief goal is to work with you and your attorney to provide expert advice and guidance concerning the preservation and distribution of your assets.
- Counsel Trust is also continually sensitive to the needs and aspirations of your beneficiaries.
Different types of trusts fulfill varied and specific needs, but each type has the express purpose of asset control, management, and distribution during and after your life. The most common type of trust is a revocable living trust where assets are deposited for investment management, asset protection, and income—dividends and interest that can either be compounded or distributed to the owner or designated beneficiaries. Revocable living trusts have many advantages:
- High quality investment growth and security by investing in professionally managed private investment pools.
- Trust owner controls every aspect of the account during his or her life (no loss of authority or control over trust assets).
- Assets can be added or withdrawn at any time.
- Asset protection from estate/inheritance taxes and avoidance of estate probate costs.
- Asset quality and litigation protection for beneficiaries.
- Immediate asset and/or income transfer to beneficiaries, avoiding the delay of the estate probate process.
- Sophisticated asset allocation models maximize risk-adjusted performance.
- Asset and financial management/budgeting in the event of disability.
- A trusted family member can be named as co-trustee with the authority to change the corporate trustee.