Modern Trust Administration:

The most important difference between South Dakota Trust Company and other trust departments is our attitude in working with our clients, and the directed trust model of trust administration allows for unparalleled asset diversification, flexibility, asset protection, tax savings, family management and control.

Many times, a corporate fiduciary will demand or eventually seek total control in carrying out the trustee functions. Our objective is not for the individuals, advisors and/or co-trustees involved to lose control, but rather to gain more control and be able to execute their roles without being burdened by concerns over the administration functions. 

SDTC is able to efficiently accommodate with experienced and knowledgeable trust administrators and state of the art technology.  Additionally, SDTC's administrative, operations, compliance and tax staff have extensive experience in working with the wealthy and their trusts.  Consequently, SDTC frequently provides families with key advice and can offer suggestions regarding the families' trusts.

Clients can take advantage of the unique opportunities of a modern corporate trustee by creating newly drafted South Dakota directed trusts, or by moving an existing "delegated" trust to South Dakota and reforming or modifying the trust for administrative purposes to a "directed" trust.  Generally, trust modification/reformation is quick, easy and also inexpensive, butcannot conflict with the settlor's "material purposes" or "probable intention". The modification of a trust to a "directed trust" is usually always an allowable reason to modify or reform the trust. The modified/reformed trust would generally retain the original trust law, but would also acquire South Dakota trust law for administrative purposes. Trust reformation in South Dakota is an easy process, averaging approximately $3,000 in legal fees and taking approximately 2-10 days. Trust reformation/modification may be either judicial or non-judicial.

For additional information on modern corporate trust administration, please contact us or visit SDTC's main website, www.sdtrustco.com .