Skip to main content

The Trust Company of Tennessee - Live Confidently

Login
  • Home
  • About Us
    • Our Team
    • Community Support
  • Services
    • Wealth Management
    • Corporate Retirement
    • Personal Trust
    • Business Advisory Services
  • Careers
  • Contact Us
  • Events
  • News

Why Tennessee is the state for trusts

February 21, 2016 by Sharon Pryse

Originally published by Knoxville News Sentinel

By Sharon Pryse, Chairman and CEO

From the Blue Ridge Mountains, to University of Tennessee football, to the Grand Ole Opry, to Memphis-style ribs, there are many reasons residents are proud to call Tennessee home.

Our great state continues to climb in the ranks of best places to retire in the U.S. Four distinct seasons and the country’s most-visited national park make Tennessee a great place for those rounding out their careers, as well as the ones just getting started.

A less well-known factor is that over the past decade, Tennessee also has become a top state in the nation’s trust industry, due in large part to legislation that makes trusts easier to administer.

Why is this important?

Historically, a trustee (the person or the organization responsible for the trust’s administration) was limited to administering a trust as it was written, with the only alternative being turning to the courts for assistance.

Fortunately, Tennessee’s laws now provide trustees with tools that allow them to be proactive and flexible in trust administration. For example, laws may change, leaving a document drafted decades ago out of date with current laws.

With the current federal estate tax exclusion of up to $5 million per person and Tennessee’s elimination of the inheritance tax effective this year, the original intent of a trust written a decade ago may no longer apply. Tennessee’s laws provide a trustee with methods to manage these challenges. These tools include methods for clarifying, revising, or terminating a trust agreement, oftentimes without going to court, saving the trust (and its beneficiaries) money and time.

In Tennessee, we also now have the flexibility to structure a trust to run 360 years, with protections against creditors for your heirs. This means your children’s inheritance should be protected in the event of divorce. Such long-term trusts also can be adjusted to fit changing situations.

For example, Tennessee has provided a decanting statute that allows a trustee to make changes to the trust when warranted to ensure the trust is utilized to its optimal potential for the beneficiaries — again, without the cost or delay associated with going to court.

Tennessee also provides flexibility in the drafting of trust documents. By law, trustees are required to notify beneficiaries of certain trust activities. While we encourage communication, some people do not want their beneficiaries to receive specific information. Mom and Dad may not want the children getting copies of all the trust activity during the surviving parent’s lifetime. Tennessee laws support these wishes.

The push in recent years by the Legislature for improved trust legislation provides clearer laws for the trust industry, and flexibility for those wishing to use trusts.

In his 2015 ranking of states in order of best laws for certain trust issues, lawyer Steve Oshins ranked Tennessee third in the nation. This ranking helps encourage trust business to come to Tennessee — providing an enhancement to our economy. That is an advantage to us all.

SIGN UP FOR UPDATES

Contact Us

(865) 971-1902
info@thetrust.com

Find a Location

Connect with us

Copyright © 2023 The Trust Company

By using this site, you are agreeing to the use of cookies to enhance your experience.AcceptReject
Privacy & Cookies Policy

Privacy Overview

This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these cookies, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may have an effect on your browsing experience.
Necessary
Always Enabled
Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. These cookies do not store any personal information.
Non-necessary
Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website.
SAVE & ACCEPT