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Webinar Recap of “Cover Your Assets: Asset Protection Trusts and the Vital Importance of Trust Jurisdiction”

Cover-you-Assets-smallBridgeford Trust Company was proud to have the opportunity to partner with McKonly & Asbury, LLP as a featured guest on their recent webinar entitled “Cover Your Assets: Asset Protection Trusts and the Vital Importance of Trust Jurisdiction” on January 23, 2014.

During this webinar, special guest David Warren (President and CEO with Bridgeford Trust Company) sat down with Reed Horanburg (Senior Consultant with McKonly & Asbury) for a discussion on asset protection trusts. This very informative webinar considered asset protection in the context of trust planning, how to best utilize asset protection trusts, and examine the importance of selecting the proper trust jurisdiction for optimal protection and flexibility. Read more

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Bridgeford Trust Featured in a Recent Central Pennsylvania Business Journal Article

cpbjBridgeford Trust is honored and thrilled to be featured in a recent Central Pennsylvania Business Journal article entitled, “For Trust Companies, South Dakota is An Alluring Place to Charter”.  The piece does a nice job capturing the essence behind the rational for the creation of Bridgeford Trust and its decision to obtain a South Dakota trust charter. Read more

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Trust Situs Matters: South Dakota Considered to have the Best Decanting Statute in the Nation

Proving once again that trust situs matters, South Dakota is ranked as having the top decanting statute in the nation.  Published by Nevada attorney Steve Oshins, the new Annual Decanting State Rankings Chart, is an excellent resource for advisors and clients because of Oshins’ methodical and objective approach to evaluating the factors that impact the viability of a state’s decanting statute.  Oshins employs the same methodical approach he brings to the Dynasty Trust State Rankings Chart and the Domestic Asset Protection Trust State Rankings Chart.

Decanting, appropriately referred to by Oshins as a “do over”, is essentially distributing assets from an irrevocable trust to a new trust with different, and presumably more desirable and flexible, terms leaving the unwanted terms in the original trust and not binding on the assets.  Therefore, the concept of decanting has become a very powerful tool for planners to modify irrevocable trusts and has emerged as one of the most progressive planning strategies available in dealing with irrevocable trusts and dynasty planning issues.  Decanting also creates a streamlined option for easily transferring a trust from one state jurisdiction to another more favorable jurisdiction, such as South Dakota.

Oshins’ rankings accentuate the vital importance of considering alternative trust jurisdictions in the wealth and trust planning process to ensure that clients are availing themselves of the most progressive trust laws in the country.  This is particularly important for planners when determining the most robust dynasty trust state, the most compelling asset protection statute, and the most flexible decanting statute allowing for changes to an irrevocable trust once considered unchangeable.

For more information about how decanting works or how to transfer jurisdiction of a trust to South Dakota, please feel free to contact us via our contact page.

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Trust Situs Matters: How the Directed Trust Model is Changing the Trust World

Directed Trusts, only available in a handful of states across the country including South Dakota, are drastically changing the trust world while putting control back into the hands of settlors, beneficiaries, and their advisors. Through bifurcating liability, the directed trust model creates a legal framework allowing trustees and beneficiaries to work with asset managers and independent trust companies of their choosing. 

Watch this short video for a discussion about how the directed trust concept “unbundles” financial services while revolutionizing the trust and wealth management industry.

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Use of Asset Protection Trusts in the Pre-Marital Planning Process

maritalplanningDomestic Asset Protection Trusts are a compelling planning tool to use in lieu of or in conjunction with prenuptial agreements in the pre-marital planning process. While prenuptial agreements serve a certain purpose, there are many personal and legal issues that deter couples from executing them, and as such, many practitioners have turned to alternatives to protecting assets obtained prior to marriage.  Read more

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Recent Pennsylvania Appeals Court Case Strikes down Pennsylvania Income Tax on Pennsylvania Resident Trusts

gavelBelow is a link to a recent Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court opinion (McNeil v. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Pennsylvania Commonwealth Department of Revenue) rejecting the Pennsylvania Department of Revenue’s attempt to impose an income tax on “resident trusts.” A resident trust is one created under the will of a decedent who was a Pennsylvania resident at the time of death or a lifetime “grantor” trust established by a Pennsylvania resident. Regardless of where the trust is sitused (which state has jurisdiction), under Pennsylvania law, the trust remains subject to Pennsylvania income tax even if the settlor, trustee, or beneficiaries do not have any contact with Pennsylvania. Read more

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South Dakota is 2013 Top State for Business according to CNBC

Mount_Rushmore_National_MemorialFor several years, South Dakota has been considered by many commentators and planners to be the best trust jurisdiction in the nation because of its cutting edge laws around asset protection, dynasty and directed trusts, and privacy. Proving once again that jurisdiction matters and is not to be ignored in the wealth and business planning process, recently South Dakota was ranked the best state in the nation within which to do business according to CNBC. You can view the CNBC article here: http://www.cnbc.com/id/100817171 Read more

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Trust Situs Matters: South Dakota Again Considered Top State for Dynasty Trusts

Proving once again that trust situs matters, South Dakota (for the 2nd year in a row) is ranked the top dynasty trust state while Delaware slips again this year to the seventh position behind Ohio and Wyoming.  The rankings chart, an annual ranking of dynasty trust states from across the country published by Nevada attorney Steve Oshins, is an excellent resource for advisors and clients because of the methodical and objective approach to evaluating the factors that impact the viability of dynasty trusts states such as whether they have an asset protection statute and how effective it is in comparison to other states.  In addition, the chart considers state taxation on trusts and whether the state has directed trust and decanting statutes. 

The chart accentuates the vital importance of considering alternative trust jurisdictions in the wealth and trust planning process to ensure that clients are availing themselves of the most progressive trust laws in the country, particularly in the area of dynasty trust formation, which continues to be a very hot topic.

An important factor to consider relative to whether a dynasty trust state is the best for clients, not considered in Steve Oshins’ chart, is privacy. States have different privacy provisions protecting information contained in a trust from becoming public. Pennsylvania has no privacy provision and, after three (3) years, trust information can become public in Delaware. South Dakota is the only  dynasty trust state that has a total seal on trust information forever. Clearly, this is also an important factor to consider when determining where to place a trust in the wealth planning process.

Steve Oshins’ chart can be viewed by clicking on the image below.

If you have any questions, please feel free to contact us via our contact page.

13-10-01 2013 Oshins Dynasty_Trust_Rankings

 

 

 

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Trust Situs Matters: Delaware No Longer Considered a Top Tier State for Asset Protection Trusts

Nevada, South Dakota, Alaska, and Ohio comprise the top tier trust jurisdictions for asset protection trusts, according to the 4th Annual Domestic Asset Protection Trust State Rankings Chart (see below). The Rankings Chart, an annual ranking of Asset Protection Statutes from across the country published by Nevada attorney Steve Oshins, is an excellent resource for advisors and clients because of the methodical and objective approach to evaluating the factors that impact the effectiveness of a particular state’s asset protection statute such as fraudulent conveyance (look back provision), state taxation on trusts, and if there is an exception for child support and alimony claims.

The chart accentuates the vital importance of considering alternative trust jurisdictions in the wealth and trust planning process to ensure that clients are availing themselves of the most progressive trust laws in the country, particularly in the area of asset protection, which continues to be a very hot topic.

An important factor to consider when looking at asset protection statute states, not considered in Oshin’s chart, is privacy. States have different privacy provisions protecting information contained in a trust from becoming public. Nevada has no privacy provision and, after three (3) years, trust information can become public in Delaware. South Dakota is the only asset protection state that has a total seal on trust information forever. Clearly, this is also an important factor to consider when determining where to place an asset protection trust.

4th Annual DAPT

Download chart in PDF

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Does Trust Situs Matter?

1080-Background3This five minute video considers top tier U.S. trust jurisdictions and discusses the objective factors that render some states better than others in the wealth planning process.  The discussion also considers the quickly evolving trust arena with a  particular emphasis on asset protection trusts and privacy issues.

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