A trust provides a valuable way to protect the assets you have accumulated for the benefit of others.
The team at Whitehead Dingley & Betar have extensive experience with the set-up and administration of all types of trusts both personally and for our clients. We are able to offer specialist advice on trust formation and ensure that all the statutory requirements are satisfied. Obligations for trustees can often be onerous, and our assistance in trust administration can prove invaluable.
Our services include:
What is a Trust?
Trusts are legal arrangements where a person’s estate is managed by another person commonly known as a trustee. There are three parties in this agreement. A person who sets it up is known as a settlor or founder. The founder decides the uses and distribution of the assets and in some instances he can benefit from this arrangement. The people who benefit from it are known as beneficiaries. A trustee is a person or a company that agrees to manage the estate of the founder such as land, buildings, investments and many others. Trustees have duties and powers that are imposed by law.
The benefits received by beneficiaries may be from the income generated from the estate as well as from entitlement to the estate after the qualifications set up in the agreement are met. They are mainly used as a way of protecting one’s businesses and investments to ensure that the family of the founder is well catered for. They are of different types with each type having its specific features. The agreement is contained in a document known as trust deed.
Purpose and Benefits of Setting up Trusts
Trusts are set up to ensure that family assets are well protected and controlled in an efficient manner. It is a way in which a founder passes his assets to the beneficiaries whether he is alive or dead.
Trusts are also set up in circumstances where the beneficiaries are incapacitated, minors or cannot manage the estate because of other reasons. There are many benefits associated with coming up with this arrangement. Despite the fact that they can be time consuming and expensive to set up, the benefits achieved are worth the process. They reduce taxes charged to your estate during the distribution of your property and money to beneficiaries; hence it is a legal way of avoiding taxation.
The property is well managed in accordance with the founder’s wishes and instructions. As such, where the beneficiaries are irresponsible, they are not able to mismanage the estate of the settlor. In a world filled with uncertainty the financial interest of the estate of the settlor and that of his family members is protected. Trusts are a great way of ensuring that the needs of beneficiaries such education, shelter, food and many others are provided for. They are also a great way of giving to charities and institutions where charitable trusts are set up.
