Delaware Trust Advantages for Business Owners

Join Wilmington Trust’s Jeffrey Wolken, Group Vice President and National Director of Fiduciary Startegies, and Alvina Lo, Chief Wealth Strategist, along with Barbara Spector, Editor-in-Chief and Associate Publisher of Family Business Magazine, as they discuss the key advantages of establishing a trust in Delaware.

Business owners face special challenges in structuring estate plans because of their unique need for control, flexibility, asset protection and confidentiality. Income tax minimization is another common goal for business owners. A personal trust is an important tool for addressing these challenges, and Delaware is an excellent place to administer such a trust because of its favorable laws, even if neither the business nor the business owner resides in Delaware.

This webinar will focus on 5 key concepts:

• Fundamentals of personal trusts and why they are a valuable estate planning tool.
  
• Flexibility with directed trusts: The directed trust feature of Delaware law allows a trusted adviser or family member to retain control over a trustee’s investment or distribution decisions so the adviser can do what is best for the family/beneficiaries.
  
• Asset protection using trusts: Delaware law provides significant protection from creditors for assets held in trust, both in an irrevocable trust for future generations an in a trust properly structured and administered as a domestic asset protection trust for the business owners’ own assets.
  
• Control over information passing to beneficiaries: Delaware law sanctions quiet trusts, allowing a family to customize when an how beneficiaries receive information regarding the assets that are held in trust.
  
• Tax minimization: Trusts may be used to effectively export the accumulation of income into a tax-friendly jurisdiction, like Delaware, to minimize the tax burden in the business owner’s home state. In addition, structuring an appropriate trust prior to the sale of a business may have a significant impact on the overall tax burden related to the sale.
  

Join Wilmington Trust’s Jeffrey Wolken, Group Vice President and National Director of Fiduciary Startegies, and Alvina Lo, Chief Wealth Strategist, along with Barbara Spector, Editor-in-Chief and Associate Publisher of Family Business Magazine, as they discuss the key advantages of establishing a trust in Delaware.

Jeffrey Wolken

Group Vice President & National Director of Fiduciary Strategies, Wilmington Trust

Jeff is responsible for developing trust planning strategies for wealthy individuals and families throughout the United States and abroad. He works closely with his clients' legal, tax, and investment advisors to construct and implement appropriate trust structures that take advantage of the state of Delaware's unique trust and tax laws.

Prior to joining Wilmington Trust in 2005, Jeff spent seven years in private legal practice as a member of the Estates and Trusts Practice Group of the Philadelphia-headquartered law firm of Montgomery, McCracken, Walker & Rhoads, LLP.

Jeff earned his JD (summa cum laude) and MBA (with honors) from Syracuse University and holds a bachelor's degree in economics from Northwestern University, where he was a member of Phi Beta Kappa. He is a frequent lecturer on topics involving the use of Delaware trusts for asset protection, state income tax minimization, and investment management for unique trust assets.

Jeff is admitted to the practice of law in Delaware, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey. He is a member of the Estates and Trusts Section of the Delaware State Bar Association and the Real Property, Trust & Estate Section of the American Bar Association.

Alvina Lo

Chief Wealth Strategist, Wilmington Trust

Alvina is responsible for overseeing wealth planning, strategic advice, and thought leadership development for Wilmington Trust's Wealth Management division. She manages a national team of wealth strategists, financial planners, and thought leadership experts, who together, serve as advisors to high net worth individuals and families, business owners, entrepreneurs, and foundations and endowments. Prior to joining Wilmington Trust, Alvina was the director and senior wealth planner for Citi Private Bank where she served as an advisor to U.S. and international ultra high net worth clients.

Previous to that, she served as a wealth strategist with Credit Suisse Private Wealth and managed the third party trustee platform. Earlier in her career, Alvina practiced law at Milbank Tweed Hadley & McCloy , LLP in the Trusts & Estates group and served as a consultant for Deloitte Consulting and Scient Corporation. Alvina holds a bachelor's degree in civil engineering from the University of Virginia where she was a Thomas Jefferson Scholar. She received her JD from the University of Pennsylvania, where she was a member of the Law Review and Order of the Coif. She also holds a Professional Tax Certificate in Estate Planning from New York

University School of Law. Alvina is a published author on estate planning matters and has lectured at the American Bar Association, Delaware Trust Conference, Hawaii Tax Institute, and Barron's Top Women Advisors Summit. She has been quoted in the New York Times, Barron's, and Business Insider. She is also a member of the Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners (STEP) and is a member of

Women In America, a professional development group. She is a regional committee co chair of the Thomas Jefferson Scholarship Foundation for the University of Virginia. Alvina is bilingual and speaks fluent Chinese Cantonese and basic Chinese Mandarin.

Barbara Spector

Editor-in-Chief, Family Business Magazine

Barbara Spector, who grew up in a family business, has served on the editorial staff of Family Business since 2000. She has been editor-in-chief since 2004 and became associate publisher in 2011. She has compiled and edited seven volumes of the acclaimed Family Business Handbook series. Previously, she was the managing editor of Jewelers’ Circular Keystone, a trade magazine for the jewelry industry, which is primarily composed of family businesses. She is a magna cum laude graduate of the University of Pennsylvania.