Factors to Consider Before Picking a Trustee

Based in Newport, CA, Richard T. Howard is an investor and trust management expert. An architectural technology graduate from Memphis State University, Newport, CA’s Richard T. Howard has served more than 1,000 clients as a trust manager. 

Business Trust
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A trust is an arrangement where an asset owner (or trustor) entrusts someone else with the rights to hold their assets for legal protection purposes, until the assets are distributed according to the wishes of the trustor. Every trust requires a trustee. 

Before choosing a trustee, consider the following key factors. 

Who fits the role best?

A family member, relative, friend or commercial trustee can manage a trust as long as the person appointed has the capability to perform well. To avoid conflicting interests, it’s best not to pick a beneficiary to act as trustee. Special trusts that require administrative requirements should be entrusted to professional commercial trustees, either an institutional trustee or private professional trustee. 

Size of the trust

A family member or relative can effectively manage a small to medium-sized trust, given they might have personal interest to see the trust succeed. Large, complex trusts are best managed by experts who understand trust management, taxation and investments. 

Execution of wishes

A good trustee needs to be bold and willing to carry out your wishes regardless of pressure or opposition from family and friends, who may want assets distributed in a manner that suits them. 

Level of organization

A trustee should be well-organized, as they need to carry out responsibilities such as reviewing investments, providing account statements, and filing tax returns.

The Roots of the Copyrighted Spendthrift Trust

The Roots of the Copyrighted Spendthrift Trust

Based in Newport Beach, CA, Richard T. Howard serves as a trustee with CDAMT. In his capacity with the Newport Beach, CA-based company, he facilitates legal services for trusts offered by Masters Copyrights, LLC, in Houston. Richard T. Howard is also a trust facilitator with Masters Copyrights, where he has written trusts for clients in sectors ranging from oil and gas to business and real estate. A core focus of the company is the Copyrighted Spendthrift Trust, a proprietary spendthrift trust with a history that dates back more than six decades and that reflects the pioneering work of a Harvard professor and trust law attorney.

Through this attorney’s work with Wall Street clients, he devised lasting strategies for protecting estates via spendthrift trusts. This type of trust protects assets by providing limited access to a trust by beneficiaries and creditors, which ensures that it remains largely intact. This innovative estate-planning format was ultimately protected through the U.S. Copyright Office, a first for a trust.

In tandem with this granted copyright, the attorney collaborated with a judge in Tarrant County, Texas, in establishing a law practice to offer the Trust to people from all walks of life. As awareness of the Masters Spendthrift Trust spread, the reputation of this estate-planning resource expanded nationwide.

A unique aspect of the Masters Trust is that it has been designed to comply with provisions in the federal tax code while making trust-invested stock dividends non-taxable to the Trust. In addition, dividends such as royalties from oil and gas are payable to the Trust in ways that are not considered taxable income to the beneficiaries. This provides clients seeking to protect gains with tax advantages.