Services

How It Works

Our Guardians coordinate quality care to those who are no longer able to care for themselves and/or their assets in accordance with legal requirements. In doing so, we keep in mind the importance of respecting a client’s community, history, culture, and wishes as much as possible. We make best efforts to honor family participation in their loved one’s life, and are experienced with co-guardianships with family members. Respect, safety and security are our guiding principles and we vow to make the transition to legal guardianship as dignified as possible.

Our guardians offer a combined forty years of experience in long-term guardianship and case management for those determined to be legally “protected persons.” To date, we have managed over 1,000 guardianship cases of the person and estate for the elderly, mentally ill, and adults with intellectual or physical disabilities.

How It Works

Trusts established to last for multiple generations enable you to provide for your immediate family and your long-lasting legacy. A dynasty trust holds assets without transferring direct ownership to beneficiaries. Instead, successive generations can receive distributions from trust assets or assets that remain held in trust, allowing for future benefit and growth.

A dynasty trust (also known as a generation-skipping trust) fulfills two main purposes: distribute your hard-earned wealth as you determine best, and avoid various taxes (transfer, distribution, estate, inheritance, etc.). For transfer tax purposes, trust assets are valued as of when the trust was created so long as they stay in the trust, and appreciation is generally exempt from estate taxes. Besides sheltering future asset appreciation from transfer taxes, creating a trust can benefit you with current protections and exemptions.

Dynasty trusts can also provide protection from creditors because dynasty trust assets do not belong to you or your beneficiaries. Under certain conditions, a dynasty trust can help avoid taxes on income and principal passed to future generations for the duration of the trust.

Dynasty trusts are sophisticated estate planning tools that involve complicated issues of federal tax laws well as state trust law. Nevertheless, they provide a highly effective way to transfer wealth to future generations with minimal tax consequences.

The State of Nevada recognizes that dynasty trusts must be “built to last,” which means Nevada trusts permit assets of U.S. and non-U.S. citizens to remain in a trust for up to 365 years. The longevity of the dynastic or generational plan justifies the use of an institution rather than individuals as trustee.

The dynasty trust is a powerful estate planning tool for families who want to avoid excessive taxation when passing ownership of valuable family assets. Due to the length of time assets can remain in trust, the use of a financial institution to serve as the trustee at some point is warranted.

How It Works

Since 1999, Nevada has permitted use of self-settled spendthrift trusts that provide asset protection for grantors. Essentially, this means you can safeguard your assets as a direct beneficiary of your own irrevocable trust—the Nevada Asset Protection Trust (“NAPT”).

Nevada statutes require an independent trustee to distribute any NAPT income or principal to you. As a co-trustee and indirect beneficiary, you can distribute trust assets to other beneficiaries, but you may not distribute assets to yourself.

Assets in a NAPT enjoy one of the shortest “seasoning periods” in the United States usually two years. However, note that assets are not immediately protected. Certain qualified creditors can pursue assets within two years after you transfer property to the trust; within six months of discovering the transfer; or when they reasonably should have discovered the transfer. However, after this seasoning period expires, trust assets are generally protected against further claims. Remember—a solid asset protection plan must be carefully considered and administered to maximize the safety of assets.

Nevada law provides that self-settled spendthrift trusts, whether created in or outside of Nevada, will be respected so long as all or part of the property you transfer into the trust is located in Nevada; you live in Nevada; or all or part of the trust's administration is performed in Nevada by a qualified Nevada trustee.

A NAPT is particularly suitable for individuals exposed to a significant degree of professional liability, such as doctors, though more people are becoming concerned about liability and the need to safeguard their assets. A Nevada Asset Protection Trust may be an excellent way to help you accomplish this goal.

How It Works

A charitable trust is an irrevocable trust that may be set up during life or at death if you wish to leave all or some portion of your estate to charity. These trusts are used for philanthropic reasons as well as to obtain certain tax advantages. There are two specific types of charitable trusts: a charitable remainder trust and a charitable lead trust, often known as a “split interest” trust.

A charitable trust may be an ideal tax-savings option for those that wish to make a substantial gift to charity. It can also operate as a remainder trust—set up to provide an income stream to a trust beneficiary (often you or your spouse) during the term of the trust, which is typically a fixed period, or the life of the named beneficiary. At the end of the trust term, the trust terminates, and the remainder of the trust value passes to specific chosen charities.

A charitable lead trust, however, pays the charity first, with the remainder going to trust beneficiaries. Depending on the type of charitable trust, the donor may sometimes claim a charitable income or gift/estate tax deduction for making a gift.

How It Works

A special needs trust (SNT) is a trust established to assist with the needs of young children, the elderly, disabled persons, or those suffering from a debilitating illness. This type of trust is established and administered by someone else, the trustee,for the named beneficiary. That trustee has absolute discretion to determine when and how much the beneficiary receives.

An individual with a disability cannot receive government benefits as the owner of a trust. However, an SNT is designed so that the beneficiary can enjoy the use of property held within the trust while still being able to receive essential needs-based government benefits. For example, these trusts may allow beneficiaries to qualify for health care coverage under state Medicaid programs and also for monthly cash payments under the Supplemental Security Income (SSI) Program.

SNTs are often created for the purpose of holding an inheritance or personal injury settlement on behalf of a disabled individual.

An SNT may be the solution for you if a need arises to care for someone in your family with a disability. In addition to preserving public benefits eligibility, SNTs are also helpful in holding and managing trust property when the beneficiary lacks the requisite capacity to do so.

SNTs are stringently regulated. If you are considering an SNT, it is important that you consult with an attorney familiar with special needs trusts and government benefits who can carefully draft the trust. This helps assure that the trust can benefit the person with a disability without losing access to government services and assistance.

How It Works

As life events occur, and adversity steps in, we are here to step up. The goals you have may change, but security, comfort and independence should remain a top priority.

When you determine you need assistance in financial tasks, or should you become incompetent, Dunham Trust steps in to act where you don’t feel comfortable or are not able to. Know that your investments and properties will be managed prudently, your bills will be paid, and our expert teams will automate and ease everyday tasks so you can focus on the joys, not the hassles, of life.

Dunham Trust acts as successor trustee or agent to coordinate your legal, financial, medical and personal matters – from paying the bills to arranging transportation providers to implementing medical support teams.

Quality of life services at Dunham Trust represent the right choice for individuals and their families who understand the importance of focusing on the best of life and outsourcing the details.

How It Works

We work with funeral and cremation providers to administer pre-need trusts. Properly managed trust accounts are the lifeline of funeral and cemetery businesses. In this highly regulated environment, Dunham Trust understands the fine points of ensuring that pre-need trust accounts comply with applicable laws and will meet agency expectations and state laws.

Our clients that sell pre-need trusts enjoy state-of-the-art systems backed by a knowledgeable team that takes a highly personalized approach to managing your account.

The advantages of working with Dunham Trust include a user-friendly interface that simplifies the bookkeeping process for you by providing basic reporting functionality and easy tracking of contract liabilities.

How It Works

Irrevocable trusts used to be seen as just that – irrevocable and unchangeable. However, as time passed, we encountered more and more trusts that were just simply “unworkable” to best implement and administer the intent in a world of ever-changing laws and lifestyles.

The strategy of “decanting” a trust has drastically changed the irrevocable trust landscape.

“Decanting” is termed as you may think – an analogy to transferring wine from one container to another and leaving the sediment behind. A decanted trust still includes the substantive, beneficial terms, but modernizes the trust structure so it is workable in today’s world.

Nevada’s decanting laws permit this process without court action and with a less-costly process than most states. Nevada also permits various decanting actions that may expand the trust to more satisfactorily balance grantor intent with family needs.

How It Works

An irrevocable life insurance trust (“ILIT”) is set up for the purpose of owning a life insurance policy. With a standard life insurance policy, proceeds are subject to estate tax at the end of your lifetime. However, transferring ownership to an ILIT guarantees that proceeds will be free of estate tax. Given current estate tax rates, an ILIT can significantly lower your estate tax liability.

Dunham Trust will act as trustee to your ILIT, ensuring that premiums are properly paid, taxes maintained, and where applicable, gifts are received and properly processed to maximize estate tax planning. We also go a step beyond what’s required and employ independent insurance reviews so we can administer your ILIT as a part of your overall family and estate plan.

How It Works

Real estate often comprises the majority of a trust's assets. Beyond the family home, there are residential rentals, a family business building, and often partial interest in a multi-unit complex. Each of these real estate holdings presents particular needs that need unique attention.

A lack of strategy and oversight will result in disrepair and disarray—and consequently, lost value and lost income. As families mature, the day-to-day of real estate ownership becomes more and more cumbersome. Ahead of that problem, Dunham Trust steps in and starts operating like you do—but with technology, expertise, and resources that make real estate work for your life. We do the heavy lifting so your life is not consumed by working for your real estate.

Dunham Trust's executive-level professionals bring decades of experience and perspective in real estate management, development, financing, leasing, partnership, and deal structuring to your trust. From conception to exit, we develop and administer the trusts, LLCs, and other holding structures that work together to make holding real estate affordable and worthwhile. While many professional trustees will not accept income-producing real estate, fractional/partial or partnership interests and mortgages, Dunham will because we have been there, collectively, whether as lender, investor, broker, or owner.

How It Works

For many privately-held businesses, the company represents the bulk of wealth for the family who started and likely still runs it. Even when a company has successfully expanded—possibly to multiple owners or shareholders—the business is still often the lifeblood of those shareholders. Unlike a public corporation or private company with no significant blocks of ownership, (for example, three partners with 1/3 interests) the shareholders' lives impact the company and the company's life impacts the shareholders—significantly.

Death, disability, divorce, or debt of a shareholder can shake the foundation of a small business for everyone involved, not just that shareholder. Not to be too grim, positive events cause change too; a long-deserved retirement or a skyrocketing valuation and exit through sale or IPO also causes shifts in an organization and power and will stretch the capacities and relationships of all involved.

A properly formed trust will address the long list of issues bound to surface over years of doing business. At the forefront, of course, is smart tax planning. Minority interests in businesses are transferred at discounted values—removing the asset from the shareholder's taxable estate. The trust may provide income tax advantages, depending on jurisdiction and other factors.

But for many businesses, taxes are not the only (sometimes not even the primary) consideration. General management purposes abound. A trust creates a lineage of control when a key person cannot or will not act; without a trust, the loss of key managers can be chaotic. With a trust, the roadmap to stability is understood and hopefully embraced long before the disruptive event. Who is in charge? Will the business wind up or continue operations? When is the right time to sell? Whose rights come first?

Trusts involved in operating businesses are tailored to each scenario and the involved families and shareholders. The trustee must know the dynamics of the players and the advisors. The trust must match the practical part of running a business with the owners' personal objectives and legacy plans.

A superior trust built for your business sets the stage to achieve your goals for tax planning, control, flexibility, privacy, succession, asset protection and your legacy. Dunham Trust Company provides the fiduciary expertise to maneuver many moving parts on that stage to the desired result, whether that may be a successful continuing business or a celebrated business exit.