Farm Estate Planning and Trust Protector

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I recently attended the Farm Estate and Business Planning Seminar in Ames, Iowa, which is put on by the Iowa State University's Center for Agricultural Law and Taxation with Roger McEowen as the Director. Each year I'm impressed with the materials and speakers presented.

One of the speakers this year, Wayne Reames, discussed utilizing trust protectors. I have used trust protectors in the past for substantially-sized estates, but Mr. Reames further highlighted some of the benefits in even modest estates. A common problem is who is to serve as trustee. A trustee is responsible for investing and managing trust assets, which can be substantial, preparation and filing tax returns, preparing and providing accounting reports and dealing with distribution requests from beneficiaries. This can be a daunting task for many people.

Rather than having friends or family members serve as trustee, and potentially be in over their head, naming a bank as a trustee may be a better solution. Then, as a way to keep the family involved, name a trusted family member as a "trust protector" and give them the ability to remove and replace a trustee. They don't have to deal with requests for funds, tax returns, investment decisions, or accounting, but yet have plenty of authority to make sure the trust is managed properly with the ability to pull the "hook".

Again, just another planning tool for your estate plan.

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