Estate Planning
The fundamental question we ask our clients before proceeding on a journey with them is:
Do you have a structure around your assets and does that structure take the growth, protection and transfer of those assets into consideration?
Estate Planning is the detailed planning and organization of your assets in a manner that ensures that your loved ones are protected and your goals for life and after-life are achieved.
In essence, we are invested in helping you draw a proper estate plan that is structured to suit your specific needs for wealth growth and impact, while alive, and covers legacy and wealth transfer matters upon incapacitation or death.
WEALTH PROTECTION & WEALTH TRANSFER
Our unique approach to Estate Planning is that we are focused on the protection and transfer of our clients’ assets and hard-earned wealth.
The norm is that many people focus on building wealth and assets, but failure to plan adequately for wealth transfer to the next generation can cause unnecessary stress and financial hardship for loved ones as well as erode a lifetime of hard-earned wealth.
This is why estate planning is so important and ARM Trustees is the best firm to help you achieve these, given our history, a deep understanding of legacy planning and the availability of top industry expertise in-house.
Our Offerings
Wills & Estate Administration
A Will is an essential part of an estate plan as it deals with personally owned assets. It states how you would like your assets distributed upon your demise and who should have guardianship of your young children.
At ARM Trustees, we offer a Comprehensive Wills services which includes appointing us as executors to your Estate.
ARM Trustees can become executors/administrators to estates if:
- appointed via a will.
- appointed by executors who need help with administering the estate.
- appointed by a court where there is no will and the courts require an independent administrator.
Living Trust
A trust is a separate legal entity that you can set up to hold your assets. Once assets are placed inside a trust, ARM Trustees will manage them and follow guidelines and precedents you have set for investments and distribution.
A Revocable Living Trust is a plan that does not envisage death alone but can be used to grow and protect your wealth while alive. The terms can be changed after it is created, and it also allows you the unique advantage of being a settler and beneficiary at the same time.
In contrast, an irrevocable trust’s terms are rigidly set such that they are not modified after it is created, and the settler cannot be a beneficiary under the Trust.
Family Trust
We will help you and the extended members of your family set up a Family Trust which will cater to assets jointly owned by the larger family.
The structure will not only be useful for the administration of existing assets but can also be used to procure assets you intend to hold in the family name.
The Family Trust also serves as a precursor to a Family Office arrangement if your intention is to start or continue a family business to ensure legacy and business succession.
Education Trust
All parents wish for a secure future for their children, and to achieve this, a good education plan must be in place.
An Education Trust set up in your lifetime provides security for education as the plan continues to run after you are gone.
This trust can provide flexibility that allows us as trustees not only to distribute assets for education, but for other purposes, including medical expenses, support and maintenance.
Payments are made directly to the school and you can designate your children, grandchildren, or wards as beneficiaries to the trust.
Charitable Trust
If you are passionate about certain causes and in a position to make a difference by giving, ARM Trustees can support you in establishing a permanent legacy for you and your family.
We will help you establish a giving structure that is bespoke to you, taking into consideration the vision you have for the causes and communities that you care about. When it comes to structured giving, there are many options available – you may wish to establish a Fund, a Foundation, a scholarship, or a community trust.
These can come in the form of single lump-sum donations or regular donations spread over a specific or indefinite period.
Incapacity Solutions
Incapacity solutions (Incap Solutions) is a service which enables you to nominate another person and confer on them powers to make personal medical decisions or financial decisions in the case of temporary or permanent incapacitation.
ARM Trustees will help you draft comprehensive Medical and Financial Power of Attorney documents to cover this eventuality.
Appointing ARM Trustees to manage your financial and legal affairs in this case provides peace of mind and avoids putting the burden of responsibility on a friend or relative, particularly when facing complex personal affairs.
Portfolio/ Investment Trusts
The portfolio trust service is based on the 3 wealth management concepts of wealth creation, wealth protection and wealth transfer.
As an existing client of ARM or investor with a third-party firm, you can set up an Investment Trust that removes the administrative burden of looking after your portfolio of investments yourself.
ARM Trustees’ portfolio team will help maximise the income of the Trust for you while the core Trust Advisory team will ensure that the transfer of investments to your beneficiaries is seamless.
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Secure Your Future
The Trustees team offers bespoke estate planning advisory services and ensures the proper constitution and administration of gifting and succession structures including Trusts, Wills, and Charities.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
Estate Planning is the process of determining, during one’s lifetime, the management and disposal of one’s assets.
This is dependent on your preferred estate plan. The cost of drafting a Will may vary depending on how much time and skill one may require and how complex one’s
Estate and wishes are.
Setting up a Trust will usually require a set-up fee after which a recurring amount may be paid to the trustees for managing the Trust.
Tax burden differs in different jurisdictions and states and is often a significant portion of the Estate. Taxes are usually imposed when the deceased has left a Will and the deceased’s Estate goes through the probate process. In contrast however, estate taxes can be completely avoided by putting one’s assets in a Trust.
Where you die without an estate plan, you are said to have died intestate. Where a person dies intestate, the person’s estate becomes subject to State laws and goes through the probate process. Probate can take many years, is very tedious and cost intensive. In most cases, a large chunk of the Estate goes to paying off lawyers whose services were engaged during probate.
