Tuesday, September 16, 2014

Future of TDTs Post Richstar



As set out in earlier posts, and with thanks to the Television Education Network, today’s post addresses the issue of ‘Future of TDTs Post Richstar’ at the following link - http://youtu.be/fUe8aX5DghI

As usual, a transcript of the presentation for those that cannot (or choose not) to view the presentation is below –

The reality is that even despite decisions such as Richstar, testamentary trusts have always been a very strong vehicle from asset protection perspective.  

They're not a recent vehicle - they go right back into early English law, over hundreds of years.  While there has undoubtedly been an amount of white noise around them in recent times, the reality is that they are by far and away the most robust structure from an asset protection perspective. 

Importantly, they also ‘tick the box’ in terms of issues such as flexibility, tax planning and overall estate and succession planning objectives can almost always be achieved via a tailored testamentary trust.  

Ultimately, despite the Richstar decision, it is absolutely the case that testamentary trusts remain the choice structure for most estate planning exercises.

Until next week.