A corporate trustee can play a positive and key role in sophisticated wealth planning. However, as our founding families experienced, and as our senior officers have witnessed, corporate trustees often can be more of a hindrance than a help when it comes to accomplishing family objectives.
At Sentinel, we understand the importance of the trustee’s role and how trusts are incorporated into the larger picture of the family and its long‑term objectives. We are guided by the principle that decisions must be made in the beneficiaries’ best interests in accordance with the intent of the grantor.
Many trust companies seek liquid assets that can be highly profitable to manage in bulk, preferably held in trusts with easy-to-administer provisions. They accept illiquid and complex situations only grudgingly. To the contrary, we do not shy away from that portion of a family’s needs. We have significant experience with trusts containing complex provisions and owning non-traditional assets (such as closely held businesses, real estate and mineral interests, residences and personal property).
We can serve as sole trustee, co-trustee or as custodian. We also can serve as an executor, an area in which we have extensive experience, particularly with respect to complex estates and family situations.