Instead of treating every trust the same, successful financial advisors recognize that different clients require different trust structures.

A business owner preparing an exit strategy has different planning needs than parents of a child with special needs. Likewise, a family focused on preserving generational wealth requires a different approach than a client who wants to maintain their relationship with an investment advisor while delegating fiduciary responsibilities.

Understanding the most common trust structures and the planning situations they address helps financial advisors identify opportunities earlier, collaborate more effectively with estate planning attorneys and corporate trustees, and deliver more comprehensive wealth planning.

Below are five of the most common trust planning scenarios advisors encounter—and the trust strategies that may fit each one.

1. Dynasty Trusts: Preserving Family Wealth Across Multiple Generations

Client Scenario: Your client has accumulated significant wealth and wants to preserve assets for children, grandchildren, and future generations while creating a lasting family legacy.

Planning Objective: Protect family wealth while supporting long-term multigenerational wealth transfer.

Why Advisors Recommend This Strategy

Families with substantial wealth often prioritize much more than tax efficiency.

They want to:

• Preserve family wealth
• Reduce future estate taxes where appropriate
• Protect assets from future creditors
• Create family governance
• Ensure responsible distributions across generations

Dynasty trusts and other multigenerational trust structures are commonly considered when clients want wealth to remain protected for decades while benefiting future descendants.

Professional corporate trustees can also provide continuity as family leadership evolves.

2. Trust Planning Before Selling a Business

Client Scenario

Your client is preparing to sell a closely held business.

Planning Objective

Protect the proceeds from a business sale while preparing for long-term wealth preservation.

Why Timing Matters

A business sale often represents the largest liquidity event of a client’s lifetime.

Once proceeds are distributed, many planning opportunities disappear.

Financial advisors should coordinate with estate planning attorneys before closing to determine:

• Should proceeds remain inside a trust?
• Does the current trust still accomplish the client’s goals?
• Would charitable trusts improve the overall strategy?
• Should future generations receive structured distributions?
• Does the family require ongoing trust administration?

Business succession planning and trust planning often work best when coordinated before, not after, the transaction closes.

3. Special Needs Trusts and Protective Trust Planning for Vulnerable Beneficiaries

Client Scenario

Your client wants to leave assets to someone who may require long-term financial protection.

Planning Objective

Protect the beneficiary while preserving long-term financial security.

Common Planning Situations

Not every beneficiary is prepared to manage inherited wealth independently.

Clients may have:

• A child with special needs
• Minor children
• Beneficiaries facing financial challenges
• Family members requiring ongoing support

Special needs trusts and other protective trust structures allow assets to be managed according to the client’s wishes while reducing the potential for financial mismanagement or family conflict.

Professional trustees can provide impartial administration and long-term continuity.

4. Directed Trusts: Keeping the Financial Advisor While Delegating Trustee Responsibilities

Client Scenario

Your client wants to continue working with their financial advisor but prefers a professional trustee to handle fiduciary responsibilities.

Planning Objective

Separate investment management from trust administration.

Why Directed Trusts Are Growing in Popularity

Many clients mistakenly assume they must choose between their trusted advisor and a corporate trustee.

In reality, advisor-friendly trust structures—including directed trustee, delegated trustee, administrative trustee, and co-trustee arrangements—allow each professional to focus on their area of expertise.

The advisor continues managing investments.

The corporate trustee assumes fiduciary, legal, tax, and administrative responsibilities.

This collaborative approach often improves governance while preserving longstanding advisor relationships.

5. Trust Administration for Complex Assets

Client Scenario

Your client owns closely held businesses, commercial real estate, concentrated stock positions, or private investments.

Planning Objective

Ensure sophisticated assets receive experienced fiduciary oversight.

Why Asset Complexity Matters

As wealth becomes more complex, trust administration becomes more specialized.

Corporate trustees frequently coordinate with advisors, attorneys, accountants, and valuation professionals to administer:

• Closely held businesses
• Commercial real estate
• Concentrated equity positions
• Private investments
• Family partnerships
• Unique family assets

Selecting the appropriate trust jurisdiction and trustee becomes increasingly important as complexity grows.

How Financial Advisors Choose the Right Trust Structure

The most effective trust recommendation isn’t based on the trust itself.

It’s based on the client’s objectives.

Financial advisors should evaluate:

• Family dynamics
• Estate planning goals
• Asset complexity
• Business ownership
• Beneficiary needs
• Trustee preferences
• Long-term wealth transfer strategies

Once those objectives are clear, advisors can work alongside estate planning attorneys and corporate trustees to determine which trust structure best supports the client’s long-term vision.

Trust Planning Is a Team Effort

Sophisticated trust planning rarely happens in isolation.

Financial advisors, estate planning attorneys, tax professionals, and corporate trustees each contribute specialized expertise that helps clients preserve wealth, reduce complexity, and navigate multigenerational planning.

Advisor-friendly corporate trustee arrangements, including directed trustee, delegated trustee, administrative trustee, and co-trustee structures, allow advisors to remain the client’s primary investment professional while experienced fiduciaries administer the trust.

For financial advisors, the greatest value often isn’t recommending a specific trust.

It’s recognizing when trust planning should become part of the conversation and bringing together the right professionals to build a strategy that protects both wealth and family relationships for generations to come.

At New Hampshire Shores Trust, we partner with financial advisors to provide flexible fiduciary solutions tailored to their clients’ needs. From dynasty trusts and business succession planning to directed trust arrangements and complex asset administration, our approach keeps advisors at the center of the client relationship while providing the fiduciary expertise needed to support long-term wealth planning.

Have a client who could benefit from a trust? Connect with New Hampshire Shores Trust to explore the right structure and how we can work alongside you to support your client’s goals.

New Hampshire Shores Trust is a trade name of Hand Benefits & Trust Company, a Texas-chartered, non-depository trust company operating a branch in New Hampshire. Hand Benefits & Trust Company is not an FDIC-insured bank. Trust and investment assets are not FDIC insured, are not bank deposits, and may lose value.