SLATs, CRTs, and IDGTs, Oh My! Utilizing Trusts to Optimize Estate Planning and Business Sale Proceeds

Our episode today featured Christine Schmidt and Julie Westbrock, advisors with Trust Point. Both are heavily involved with business owner clients; one from the Family Office area and the other from the Wealth Management area. Today's topic was not one we've covered at such length, so we felt that it was time for us to dive into it a bit deeper. 

We spent our time discussing some of the most commonly used Trust instruments. 

An Irrevocable Trust can be a good option for a family with a business or other significant assets that are appreciating in value. An attorney with knowledge in estate and business drafting is crucial. A knowledgeable and supportive trustee to administer or family office to engage all parties; this would be a role Trust Point would play, along with accounting and Valuation experts. These help families to transfer the value of the business out of the owners estate and still

maintain control of the business with the owner during their lifetime. 

A couple of other commonly utilized Trust instruments are Intentional Defective Grantor Trust (IDGT) a SLAT (Spousal Lifetime Access Trust) and a CRT (Charitable Remainder Trust). Christine and Julie explained the typical reasons for use of these as well as benefits and risks of each. 

Listen to the podcast to learn more here. 

Connect with Christine Schmidt here and Julie Westbrock here 

Connect with Julie Keyes, Keyestrategies LLC
Founder, Consultant, Author, Pod-caster and Instructor