Sign up to save your podcasts
Or
Share How to Avoid Trust Disasters: Corporate Trustees, Family Conflict, & Smarter Estate Planning ft. Sarah Lashua
Share to email
Share to Facebook
Share to X
Share to email
Share to Facebook
Share to X
Or
How to Avoid Trust Disasters: Corporate Trustees, Family Conflict, & Smarter Estate Planning ft. Sarah Lashua
Today on The Wealth Transfer Podcast, Matt Templeton sits down with trust and estate administrator Sarah Lashua (American National Bank & Trust) to unpack one of the most overlooked — and most emotionally charged — areas of wealth transfer: what really happens after you’re gone.
If you’ve ever wondered how to keep your kids from fighting, how to structure your estate so it's actually easy to administer, or why corporate trustees exist (and why they often save families from chaos), this episode is full of essential insights.
Sarah brings over seven years of trust administration experience, a tax background, and a legal perspective to show us the pitfalls she sees every day — pot trusts gone wrong, illiquid real estate causing gridlock, beneficiary disputes, rigid documents, unclear responsibilities, and the shocking emotional realities that surface after a parent or grandparent passes away.
She also dives into practical tools that most families never get told about:
• When a corporate trustee becomes a MUST, not a luxury
• How to design trusts that don’t destroy family relationships
• Why liquidity matters more than most people realize
• Charitable remainder trusts (CRTs) as tax-saving, legacy-building vehicles
• Using donor-advised funds wisely
• How inherited IRAs create massive, unexpected tax burdens
• And the emotional side of estate cleanouts — “your stuff is not your legacy”
This episode blends expert education with real human stories, giving families a clearer path to building, protecting, and transferring their wealth without unnecessary strain, conflict, or cost.
📞 Connect with Today’s Guest — Sarah Lashua
Website/LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sarahlashua/
Phone: 940-310-6922
Email: [email protected]
Bio:
Sarah has been a trust and estate administrator for more than seven years. Prior to working in banking, she worked in public accounting with a focus on tax compliance. She enjoys combining her tax and legal background to help clients navigate the complexities of trust and estate administration. When she isn’t working, Sarah is supervised by her two golden retrievers.
🏠 About Your Host — Matt Templeton
Matt Templeton is a Real Estate Planner, long-time real estate expert, and the founder of Templeton Real Estate Group, serving clients across DFW, TX and Albuquerque, NM. Matt helps families strategically build, preserve, and transfer wealth through smarter real estate decisions — especially when navigating inheritance, senior transitions, trust complications, and estate planning.
Matt collaborates with attorneys, CPAs, trust officers, and financial advisors to give clients the full team they need to protect and steward their assets across generations.
👉 If you need referrals, guidance, or help navigating your own wealth-transfer or real-estate planning situation, reach out anytime.
Contact Matt:
📞 972-677-3991
📘 Show Notes & Key Topics
00:00 — Introduction to Sarah & the Role of Corporate Trustees
What a trust officer actually does, and why naming family members as trustees often creates emotional, legal, and financial problems.
02:00 — The Hidden Liability of Being a Trustee
How naming your child, sibling, or spouse as trustee changes family dynamics — and exposes them to personal legal risk.
03:00 — What Corporate Trustees Do Daily
Distribution requests, monthly allowances, document reviews, ongoing communication, and helping families navigate needs.
05:00 — Privacy, Money, & Awkward Conversations
Why trustees often must examine beneficiaries’ outside income and assets — and why this can be uncomfortable.
06:00 — The #1 Trust Structure to Avoid: Pot Trusts
Why pot trusts often explode with sibling rivalry, conflict, and impossible administration requirements.
08:00 — Flexibility in Documents: Why It Matters
How rigid estate documents trap trustees, beneficiaries, and families — and when courts must step in.
10:00 — What Makes a Trust Too Small or Too Large for Corporate Trustees
Minimums, ideal sizes, and when combining trusts is the best solution.
11:00 — Red Flags When Reviewing Trusts or Estates
Liquidity issues, toxic assets, land, mineral interests, and difficult beneficiaries. What makes a trust too complicated to accept.
13:00 — Fiduciary Duty: What Most People Don’t Understand
Why self-dealing, bad record-keeping, and “favoritism” create lawsuits and family division.
15:00 — How Sibling Rivalry Ruins Inheritances
Real-world dynamics: locked gates, unmaintained property, differing intentions for land, and multi-heir gridlock.
16:00 — Structuring Real Estate Inside an Estate or Trust
Why real estate is the #1 source of inheritance conflict and how to plan better on the front end.
21:00 — Case Study: Big Land + Many Beneficiaries
Why large families with large assets often face inevitable conflict — and how to build escape routes into your plan.
23:00 — Executors, Accusations, & Mismanaged Estates
How executors become the target and why unclear documents accelerate conflict.
24:00 — Estate Planning Reality: People Behave Differently When You’re Gone
Why your heirs won’t act the same way once the “glue” of the family is gone.
27:00 — Estate Cleanouts: The Emotional & Comical Realities
Foreign coins, old collections, coffee mugs, and the truth: your legacy is not your stuff.
31:00 — What Families Should Do Now
Decluttering, gifting heirlooms early, sharing stories, and reducing future burdens for loved ones.
35:00 — Why EVERY Adult Needs a Will (Not Just Seniors)
The dangers of holographic wills and multi-state property.
A Florida example where the wrong person inherited due to an invalid will.
39:00 — Revocable Trust Mistakes Everyone Makes
Creating a trust but failing to retitle assets — why probate still gets triggered.
41:00 — Charitable Planning: Underused but Powerful
Charitable remainder trusts, donor-advised funds, and legacy-building strategies.
47:00 — The Tax Strategy Most Families Haven’t Heard Of
Using a CRT to stretch inherited IRAs beyond 10 years and dramatically reduce taxes.
View all episodes
By Matt TempletonToday on The Wealth Transfer Podcast, Matt Templeton sits down with trust and estate administrator Sarah Lashua (American National Bank & Trust) to unpack one of the most overlooked — and most emotionally charged — areas of wealth transfer: what really happens after you’re gone.
If you’ve ever wondered how to keep your kids from fighting, how to structure your estate so it's actually easy to administer, or why corporate trustees exist (and why they often save families from chaos), this episode is full of essential insights.
Sarah brings over seven years of trust administration experience, a tax background, and a legal perspective to show us the pitfalls she sees every day — pot trusts gone wrong, illiquid real estate causing gridlock, beneficiary disputes, rigid documents, unclear responsibilities, and the shocking emotional realities that surface after a parent or grandparent passes away.
She also dives into practical tools that most families never get told about:
• When a corporate trustee becomes a MUST, not a luxury
• How to design trusts that don’t destroy family relationships
• Why liquidity matters more than most people realize
• Charitable remainder trusts (CRTs) as tax-saving, legacy-building vehicles
• Using donor-advised funds wisely
• How inherited IRAs create massive, unexpected tax burdens
• And the emotional side of estate cleanouts — “your stuff is not your legacy”
This episode blends expert education with real human stories, giving families a clearer path to building, protecting, and transferring their wealth without unnecessary strain, conflict, or cost.
📞 Connect with Today’s Guest — Sarah Lashua
Website/LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sarahlashua/
Phone: 940-310-6922
Email: [email protected]
Bio:
Sarah has been a trust and estate administrator for more than seven years. Prior to working in banking, she worked in public accounting with a focus on tax compliance. She enjoys combining her tax and legal background to help clients navigate the complexities of trust and estate administration. When she isn’t working, Sarah is supervised by her two golden retrievers.
🏠 About Your Host — Matt Templeton
Matt Templeton is a Real Estate Planner, long-time real estate expert, and the founder of Templeton Real Estate Group, serving clients across DFW, TX and Albuquerque, NM. Matt helps families strategically build, preserve, and transfer wealth through smarter real estate decisions — especially when navigating inheritance, senior transitions, trust complications, and estate planning.
Matt collaborates with attorneys, CPAs, trust officers, and financial advisors to give clients the full team they need to protect and steward their assets across generations.
👉 If you need referrals, guidance, or help navigating your own wealth-transfer or real-estate planning situation, reach out anytime.
Contact Matt:
📞 972-677-3991
📘 Show Notes & Key Topics
00:00 — Introduction to Sarah & the Role of Corporate Trustees
What a trust officer actually does, and why naming family members as trustees often creates emotional, legal, and financial problems.
02:00 — The Hidden Liability of Being a Trustee
How naming your child, sibling, or spouse as trustee changes family dynamics — and exposes them to personal legal risk.
03:00 — What Corporate Trustees Do Daily
Distribution requests, monthly allowances, document reviews, ongoing communication, and helping families navigate needs.
05:00 — Privacy, Money, & Awkward Conversations
Why trustees often must examine beneficiaries’ outside income and assets — and why this can be uncomfortable.
06:00 — The #1 Trust Structure to Avoid: Pot Trusts
Why pot trusts often explode with sibling rivalry, conflict, and impossible administration requirements.
08:00 — Flexibility in Documents: Why It Matters
How rigid estate documents trap trustees, beneficiaries, and families — and when courts must step in.
10:00 — What Makes a Trust Too Small or Too Large for Corporate Trustees
Minimums, ideal sizes, and when combining trusts is the best solution.
11:00 — Red Flags When Reviewing Trusts or Estates
Liquidity issues, toxic assets, land, mineral interests, and difficult beneficiaries. What makes a trust too complicated to accept.
13:00 — Fiduciary Duty: What Most People Don’t Understand
Why self-dealing, bad record-keeping, and “favoritism” create lawsuits and family division.
15:00 — How Sibling Rivalry Ruins Inheritances
Real-world dynamics: locked gates, unmaintained property, differing intentions for land, and multi-heir gridlock.
16:00 — Structuring Real Estate Inside an Estate or Trust
Why real estate is the #1 source of inheritance conflict and how to plan better on the front end.
21:00 — Case Study: Big Land + Many Beneficiaries
Why large families with large assets often face inevitable conflict — and how to build escape routes into your plan.
23:00 — Executors, Accusations, & Mismanaged Estates
How executors become the target and why unclear documents accelerate conflict.
24:00 — Estate Planning Reality: People Behave Differently When You’re Gone
Why your heirs won’t act the same way once the “glue” of the family is gone.
27:00 — Estate Cleanouts: The Emotional & Comical Realities
Foreign coins, old collections, coffee mugs, and the truth: your legacy is not your stuff.
31:00 — What Families Should Do Now
Decluttering, gifting heirlooms early, sharing stories, and reducing future burdens for loved ones.
35:00 — Why EVERY Adult Needs a Will (Not Just Seniors)
The dangers of holographic wills and multi-state property.
A Florida example where the wrong person inherited due to an invalid will.
39:00 — Revocable Trust Mistakes Everyone Makes
Creating a trust but failing to retitle assets — why probate still gets triggered.
41:00 — Charitable Planning: Underused but Powerful
Charitable remainder trusts, donor-advised funds, and legacy-building strategies.
47:00 — The Tax Strategy Most Families Haven’t Heard Of
Using a CRT to stretch inherited IRAs beyond 10 years and dramatically reduce taxes.