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What the Jimmy Buffett Trust Fight Teaches Advisors About Structure

When Jimmy Buffett died in 2023, he left behind more than a catalog of beach anthems. He left a $275 million estate, a marital trust for his wife Jane, and a will that had been updated the same year he passed. By conventional measures, this was a well-planned estate. Buffett named two co-trustees to...

The $3.3 Billion Lesson: How a South Dakota Trust Could Have Saved the Murdoch Family Fortune

In September 2025, Rupert...

Understanding Pre-Immigration Planning Trusts

What Foreign Nationals Need to Know Before Becoming U.S. Residents and How a Pre-Immigration Trust C...

Understanding QPRTs

How Homeowners Can Transfer a Primary or Vacation Residence Out of Their Taxable Estate at a Reduced...

When to Bring in a Corporate Trustee: Red Flags and Conversation Starters for Advisors

Most financial advisors...

From Here to There: A Practitioner’s Guide to Migrating an Existing Trust to South Dakota

A client’s trust was established twenty years...

Understanding GRATs: How Grantor-Retained Annuity Trusts Transfer Wealth Tax-Efficiently

How GRATs Allow Families...

Fixing What Looked Irrevocable: A Practitioner’s Guide to Trust Decanting in South Dakota

Irrevocable trusts were not always designed to...

Understanding Defective Grantor Trusts: Leveraging Tax Rules to Transfer Wealth Efficiently

When an irrevocable ...

The Tax Arbitrage That Compounds for Generations: South Dakota’s Income Tax Advantage for Irrevocable Trusts

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Sterling Trustees Named #1 for Best Trust Technology in the 2026 Wealth Advisor Trust Survey

Sterling Trustees has...

Sterling Trustees Named #1 for Best Advisor Service in the 2026 Wealth Advisor Trust Survey

We are pleased to share ...

Why Most Advisors Lose 80% of Assets When a Client Dies — And How Trust Planning Prevents It

When a long-standing ...

Why Trust Accounts Produce Longer Advisor Relationships

One of the most important advantages of trust planning, yet one of the...

Understanding Asset Protection Trusts: Shielding Wealth While Preserving Access

How South Dakota Law Enhances Trust...

Directed vs. Discretionary Trusts: What’s the Difference and Why It Matters

How Modern Trust Structures Adapt...

Understanding SLATs: A Strategic Tool for Wealth Preservation

Why Spousal Lifetime Access Trusts Continue to Play a Critical Role in Modern...

Failing to Plan for the Loss of a Trustee: How Relying on Family Friends Can Put Your Trust at Risk

Many parents appoint a ...

Appointing a Child as Trustee: How a Well-Intentioned Choice Can Compromise Your Irrevocable Trust

Parents may appoint...

Family Trust Mistakes: When Mismanagement of Trust Funds Lead to Financial and Legal Ramifications

Many individuals appoint...

Why You Need to Put Your Wealth in a Trust

The Greatest Wealth Transfer in History is underway. In the next 20 years, members of Generation X...

Family Trust Mistakes: How Relying on Relatives Devastates Your Fortune and Tears Your Family Apart

Is the trustee for your......

Navigating Trust Structures: Directed vs. Discretionary Trusts

Blended families, where one or both spouses bring children from previous marriages into a new family...

The Benefits of Trusts in Blended Families: South Dakota Situs

Blended families, where one or both spouses bring children from previous...

An alternative to the Massachusetts Millionaire Tax

On November 8, 2022, Massachusetts voters approved a ballot measure to amend the Massachusetts......

Reflections on the 57th Annual University of Miami Heckerling Institute on Estate Planning

I was thrilled to join our President/CEO......

Trusts 101: Skilled Advisors Navigate Toward Smoother Seas – Growing and Protecting Your Business Using Trusts

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Trusts 101: Shelter from the Storm – How Trusts Help Protect Investment Advisor Businesses and Their Clients’ Assets

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Trusts 101: Perfect Storm – the Looming Threat to Your Investment Advisory Practice

In our view, there’s a perfect storm on the horizon...

Trusts 101: South Dakota puts the special in Special Purpose Entity

South Dakota is consistently regarded by high-net-worth individuals and their...

Trusts 101: Why Partner With An Independent Corporate Trustee

When setting up a trust, choosing the trustee is the most important decision...

Trusts 101 for Investment Advisors: Why South Dakota Is the Top Situs for Your Clients’ Trusts

When setting up a trust...

Trusts 101 for Investment Advisors: Types of Trusts Explained

Are you advising your clients on the transfer of wealth through generations via...

Trusts 101 For Investment Advisors: What Is a Trust and How Do Trusts Work?

As baby boomers have started reaching retirement...

South Dakota’s Long History of Support for the Trust Industry Keeps It a Top Choice as Trust Situs

For anyone actively...

Common Questions about Asset Protection Trusts

From time to time the news media covers various issues related to the popularity of South Dakota’s...

When selecting a trustee, does size really matter?

When we start working with a new client, it’s often at the end of an evaluation process that invol...

Real estate strategy affected by a slow corporate trustee?

Have you lost out on a home buying opportunity because you couldn’t get a distribution in time? He...

For attorneys, retiring can be trickier than you thought

Over the past few months, we have had several calls from attorneys who are...

3 Takeaways from the 53rd Annual Heckerling Conference

In January, I had the pleasure of attending the 53rd Annual Heckerling Conference...

Are you a creature of habit – at the expense of your clients?

In many situations, being a creature of habit is beneficial. It guides you through...

A tax time opportunity that you, as an attorney, must explore for your clients

“...It’s the most wonderful......

Frustrated woman because her trust officer was slow to process a distribution

Are clients complaining about the slow response time from their corporate trustee?

Your client’s corporate trustee relationship is...

Wealthy family who uses trust administration services to protect their assets

9 Questions Wealthy Families Should Be Asking in 2018

Here we are passing through February into March already and settling in to a new year. Often, the ne...

Sterling Trustees top-ranked in SD by Chambers and Partners

Sterling Trustees, LLC has been recognized by Chambers and Partners...

Trust business swells in SD with international changes

For decades, South Dakota has been among the most favorable places in the…...

Wealth Advisor: How South Dakota Became A Leader In National Trust

Last year Gov. Dennis Daugaard reconfigured South Dakota's trust task force…...

In recent years, trust activity getting large in South Dakota

Trust companies headquartered in South Dakota surpassed...

Private Wealth magazine: The South Dakota Story

The casual observer has probably encountered a South Dakota story without even knowing it. Such stor...

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