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The South Dakota Dynasty Trust

BF-SquareSouth Dakota was the first state in the nation to abolish the Rule Against Perpetuities in 1983, clearing the way for the creation of the Dynasty Trust. A Dynasty Trust, not available in all states, is a powerful planning tool that essentially allows a trust to live in perpetuity (forever), therefore never subjecting the assets to federal estate taxation through a forced distribution.

Watch the video below to learn how Dynasty Trusts work and why South Dakota is considered to be the top Dynasty Trust state in the nation.

For more information regarding Dynasty Trusts, please contact Bridgeford Trust via our contact page.

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The South Dakota Trust Protector

The Trust Protector concept is a modern trust law tool, often used in conjunction with a Directed Trust, that delivers far more control to settlors of trusts, beneficiaries, and their advisors than ever before. The inclusion of a Trust Protector allows the settlor, beneficiaries, and their advisors to modify and control many important aspects of the trust and provide direction to the trustee with respect to investment management, jurisdiction, and trust distributions. Acting as a “super trustee,” the Trust Protector concept enhances the control aspects of the Directed Trust because it provides for direction or restraint of powers of the trustee. Read more

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Bridgeford Trust: A New Wealth Management Paradigm

Bridgeford Trust is built around the unifying belief that high net worth individuals and families around the country and the world are vastly underserved by traditional “bundled” wealth management and trust administrative models. Driven by the demands and unique needs of affluent families, more change has occurred in the fiduciary industry in the past twenty years than has occurred in the previous two centuries.

Leveraging progressive and modern trust laws such as directed trusts, trust protectors, and decanting, Bridgeford Trust is a part of this new wealth management trend nationally, representing a new and emerging wealth management service paradigm built around true independence, collaboration, and world-class capabilities. View the video below for a message from the founders of Bridgeford Trust about its inception, success, and future.

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Best Trust Jurisdiction

200070491-001Which state is the best United States trust jurisdiction continues to be a hot topic of debate for advisors around the country and the world. Most academics, commentators, and industry reports generally find South Dakota, Nevada, Alaska, and Delaware to be the “top tier” United States trust jurisdictions.

However, as outlined in a recent article and demonstrated by a well-researched chart comparing the leading United States trust jurisdictions published by Bridgeford Trust, there are specific areas in trust law where South Dakota excels, clearly rendering that state the jurisdiction of choice relative to trust situs. Dynasty Trusts, favorable State Income Taxation, Community Property Trusts, Privacy, Decanting, and the lowest Insurance Premium Tax in the nation are all areas where South Dakota’s laws are superior to those of other top tier jurisdictions, providing advisors powerful tools with respect to wealth planning for high net worth families across multiple generations. Read more

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Decanting: A Powerful Planning Tool for Advisors

TrustDecanting has emerged as a very compelling planning option for advisors across the nation. Appropriately referred to as a “do over”, decanting is essentially distributing assets from an irrevocable trust into 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. Read more

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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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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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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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