Family Trusts - (Bloomberg) by Hartley Goldstone & James E Hughes & Keith Whitaker (Hardcover)

About the Book

Book Synopsis

An insightful and practical guide to family trusts

Family Trusts is a step-by-step guide for anyone involved in family trusts: trust creators, trustees, beneficiaries, and advisors. It will help families create and administer a culture that recognizes trusts as a gift of love.

Marrying the practical and emotional aspects of family wealth, this book provides a hands-on primer that focuses on fostering positive relationships, and structuring the trust appropriately for the situation and the people involved. It tackles difficult topics with frank and honest discussion, from the first beneficiary meeting to working with addictions, and more. Written by a team of experts in family wealth, this information is becoming increasingly crucial to the successful execution of a trust; you'll learn what type of person makes the best trustee, how to be an excellent beneficiary, and the technical aspects that help you build a better trust from the very beginning.

There's been a staggering increase in trustee/beneficiary litigation and hostility, but that doesn't mean it's inevitable. Plenty of trusts are running smoothly, with positive experiences on all sides. This book shows you how to set up your trust to succeed from the start, with step-by-step guidance and expert insight.

• Express clear and thoughtful intent for the trust
• Create a healthy and supportive culture
• Select the right trustee, trust protector, and trust advisor
• Take the time to prepare before initially meeting the beneficiary
• Conduct a productive first meeting to set a tone for the relationship

Historically, there has been little consideration given to the culture of trusts, and this oversight may be a key driver of the behavior that's becoming more prevalent. Family Trusts explores the nature of these relationships, and shows you how to build a trust that retains the nature and spirit with which it was intended.

From the Back Cover

A trust is a not a document or a receptacle. It is a relationship, aimed at benefiting someone's life. Why, then, do 80 percent of trust beneficiaries view their trusts as burdens and not blessings? The authors believe that lack of attention to the human realities of trusts is to blame. Family Trusts challenges the disappointing status quo with new recommendations for building trusts that preserve the hopes of their creators and support the dreams of their beneficiaries.

Most trusts are formed to save taxes, protect against creditors, and exert control over property. As important as these largely quantitative goals are, they ignore and often impede trusts' qualitative possibilities. This revolutionary guide lays out sound practices for trustees, trust protectors, and trust creators to develop flourishing beneficiaries. It shows trustees how to manage their fiduciary risks by taking concrete steps to get to know beneficiaries and address their concerns. It also opens the eyes of beneficiaries and trust creators to the higher purpose that trusts can achieve, where dynamic distributions promote beneficiary growth and independence rather than perpetuate a "trust-fund baby" distribution-dependency. Whether your trust is already established or you're planning to create trusts, this deeply practical guide shows you how to:

• Communicate clearly and effectively with beneficiaries at various stages of their development and at various stages in the trust's own life
• Make prudent distributions to promote beneficiaries' growth
• Thoughtfully prepare for the creation of new trusts or the termination of old ones
• Restructure the roles of trustee and trust protector to manage risk and reduce the likelihood of conflict
• Wherever you are in the trustscape, you can have a more rewarding experience with Family Trusts.

About the Author

HARTLEY GOLDSTONE, JD, MBA, works with institutional and individual trustees, family offices, and beneficiaries in all stages of life to identify--and then achieve--positive possibilities in the relationship between beneficiary and trustee. A Research Fellow with Wise Counsel Research, Hartley is the co-author of TrustWorthy: New Angles on Trusts from Beneficiaries and Trustees, and a popular speaker about flourishing "trustscapes."

JAMES (Jay) E. HUGHES, JR., is the author of the acclaimed classics Family Wealth and Family: The Compact Among Generations, and the co-author of The Cycle of the Gift: Family Wealth and Wisdom and The Voice of the Rising Generation. He has also written numerous articles on family governance and wealth preservation. A Research Fellow with Wise Counsel Research, Jay is a frequent speaker at symposia on the growth of families' human, intellectual, social, spiritual, and financial capital.

DR. KEITH WHITAKER is founding president of Wise Counsel Research, a think tank devoted to studying wealth and philanthropy. Keith has many years' experience helping enterprising families communicate around estate planning and charitable giving. His writings have appeared in The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, and the Financial Times. Keith is the co-author of The Cycle of the Gift: Family Wealth and Wisdom, The Voice of the Rising Generation: Family Wealth and Wisdom, and Wealth and the Will of God.