Your money is not safe…if you have it in a trust.
Do you know that if you sign a broad grant of powers to your trustee, that trustee can invest your hard-earned money and assets in whatever way the trustee wants?
Do you realize that because most estate planners don’t address how your trust will play out, you risk a trustee playing God and distributing funds in whatever way they wish?
Do you know that no one oversees whether your trustee actually complies with the terms of your trust?
This is only the tip of the iceberg. The trust industry is worth trillions of dollars. It is rife with problems that no one in the industry wants to fix because they make too much money off the system as is.
It’s up to us to fix it, and Sue Farley, J.D., shows us how! In “Trust Are you Kidding?,” Farley, long time trust litigator, shows us why the current system doesn’t work and then offers a real and very workable solution!
Sue Farley has over thirty years handling litigation surrounding trust cases. Because of the hardships her family endured with the legal system, she has a personal interest in protecting people’s assets and educating them about a system that she believes is rife with problems.

















































[...] your money to go, however that is no guarantee your wishes will be carried out after your demise. Sue Farley, #1 Best Selling author of Trust, Are You Kidding? shared a number of tales of woe during a call we [...]
Thank you for sharing this interesting informations! Trust is everything but is used by only a small proportion of the world. Do not trust your friends. I felt trouble with my friends.
great article
Dear Trixie
Thank you for your comment. Put your money in a savings account or CD or Money Market and then have the money go outright to your heirs. You can create custodial accounts that go directly to your heirs on your death. Write into your trust that you do not want prolonged administration and that the administration should be concluded in two years, if not concluded the successor trustee is your beneficiary(s)and the assets are to be transferred to them as successor trustees. This is for a small estate or trust. If you have a significant amount of money over $3 million then more work will be required. Our financial institutions are routinely simply keeping assets and siphoning off their 6+% of assets annually to themselves. This is usually in combination with another 5+% in legal fees for an 11+% drain annually from your trust. If you are making over 11% on return for your trust then it might stay even otherwise your trust is annually losing money and so are your beneficiaries. The banks and the lawyers benefit NOT your heirs.
Sue Farley
Sue Farley
Now I wonder where to put my money. But there is a bank so I think it will have to do. By the way, thank you for informing us. Sue Farley really give us a lending hand over this issue.
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I must appreciate you for the information you have shared.I find this information very useful and it has considerably saved my time.thanx:)
I must appreciate you for the information you have shared.I find this information very useful and it has considerably saved my time.thanx:)
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I have received so many requests to guide people through the trust process and what they should or should not do I am evaluating whether to do some teleseminars where I take the listeners through step by step formation of a trust and then a second series regarding how to administer a trust when you have one so you don’t get in trouble. I would like some feed back on this so if there is interest please blog me and let me know.
Sue Farley
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Thank you for sharing this interesting informations!
The idea of “trust” in a system or “trust” in an individual is all relative. After Almost 35 years in reviewing trusts gone bad, I would say the industry is getting worse not better. Deregulation of our financial institutions was a bad idea. It has resulted in the financial institutions competeing with your heirs for the money you leave to your heirs. Even the so called expert attorneys are writing themselves into the trusts so they can guarantee a feeder line of fees to themselves once you are no longer around to protect your assets. Demand accountability, demand that conflicts of interest be eliminated, demand transparancy for your heirs and empower your heirs to get rid of the appointed trustee on conflict of interest grounds or poor performance. Do NOT grant to your trustee all powers of ownership of your assets without first putting in place checks and balances and oversight of the trustee. Today there is no supervision of our trustees and the system is being abused.
When speaking about money, Trust is difficult to reach. If you’re careful, you can have Trust.
Paris turf
Yes, there is Trust but you have to fight to reach it.
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There is no trust anymore!
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Good information. I will keep myself update.
Luisa:
It is hard to give legal advise when I do not have all the facts. Much of your planning will depend upon what you have to leave to your heirs. You have a relatively complicated situation with an older brother needing the income and your disabled nephew. Remember whoever you put in charge of your assets may not think that your older brother or disabled nephew are as deserving as you think. Once control passes out of your hands there is no telling what happens. It is my experience that once power shifts the one to whom the power shifts find all manner of excuses why they need to benefit themselves from the assets now under their control. You need to talk to an attorney as to how you can protect what you have. Empower the people you intend to benefit with the power to manage the assets for themselves. I would have to have a lot more information before I could help you on this. But put in protections for your beneficiaries including the power to remove a poorly performing trustee.
Thank you for the blogs I have been buried wrtiting a closing brief about a trust gone bad. The trustees and attorneys took for themselves 60% of the trust estate in fees and expenses while distributing 5% to the beneficiaries. The IRS took the rest. This is a travesty. I am trying to get their money back but often the courts do not want to believe what they see and often side with the attorneys and banks…the presumption is in their favor.
Nowadays we have to be critical when it comes to money. I was a victim of kinda like that. Thanks for posting this. People should be aware of it and give further background check before enrolling on such.
Thanks for your info on trust industry,which is actually not so reliable for the high risk,i think this can be a warn for the people are planning to put their money in a trust.
Trust is important, but something to read up on.
Hello Sue:
A lawyer from my employer legal plan, has recommended to do a will while I am still alive and upon my death the will be converted (not sure if this is the correct terminology) to trust for my small properties that will not be distributed but rented for the medical and living expenses of my older brother and my disable nephew who both lives overseas.
The trustees will be my younger brother, (who I consider will do the right thing) and one married niece (not sure 100% about her because she is married), both are beneficiares among other nieces, upon my older brother and my disable nephew death.
You said is expensive to keep a trust because the accounting fees, and the trustees may abuse and may keep the assets for themselves. Therefore what will be best thing to do for my situation?
Thank you for your advice.
Luisa
Dear Day Care Grants: You could not be more correct. Trusts are NOT trustworthy! We are led to believe that they are the estate planning tool of choice and then when someone dies and the trust springs to life it often is like a land mine! Too many taking what was left to the beneficiaries, no transparancy, no accountability, the money or assets are diverted BEFORE the beneficiaries find out or can do anything about it, the language muddies the rights of the parties in short A MESS. If your company, business, family, parents are considering a TRUST have someone else, not your lawyer review it to see if they can figure out what you want from the document and see if it says what you want. Do not accept the fact that it is written in legaleze for not understanding it. Pay to have a second lawyer tell you how it can go wrong and how to correct it. It is worth it!
Trusts are misnomers. The problem with these trusts are that they leave a lot to be desired. The gullible individual should brush up on trusts and how to make a trust fit his requirements and wishes.
Tip 1. When writing a trust, trust yourself! Project yourself into the future so that what you want to do with your assets is spelled out in detail. If you leave it to your trustee it will be their standards and decisions that will dominate not yours. Prepare an inventory of what you have, value it and then designate where and to whom it is to go on your death. This should accompany your will or trust and your trust or will should parallel your directives. Do this now. Do not wait until you are too imfirm or incapable of taking care of this very important business.
On Small trusts - Any small trust should be structured to be distributed immediately on death. This avoids the expense of probate and gets the assets directly to the heirs. If you have under $1 million have your trust distribute on death. There is no point in allowing third parties to run up big fees against this amount only to deprive the beneficiaries of their inheritance.
Trusts are not all that trustworthy. They are expensive and you have to rely on family and often strangers to do the right thing. Today we are finding that there are few that are in fact trustworthy. If they are trustworthy they are untrained and that can be just as bad. When you create a trust you must create a check and balance system. Empower your beneficiaries to remove a poorly performing or bad trustee.
A small trusts are a very much to expensive to maintain accountant & President of Back Taxes Help, LLC, a tax resolution firm that assists taxpayers taxpayers very good information
Small trusts should not be prolonged. They should be distributed to their intended beneficiary at the earliest opportunity. The fees, charges, attorneys fees, accountant fees, investment fees etc. etc. will consume the trust before it can ever be distributed. I had one beneficiary call me to tell me that her mother put $100,000 in trust for her when she was fifteen. She was to get it when she was 25. When she went to collect there was nothing left! This is not atypical. Small trusts should be distributed as soon as possible to the named beneficiaries with as little interference from third parties as possible.
A small trusts are a very too expensive to maintain accountant and President of Back Taxes Help, LLC, a tax resolution firm that assists taxpayers very good information!
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Sue Farley says in response to kobfire@สปาสปา Thank you. It is important people become aware of these issues. We walk blindly into these documents having no idea how they will play out. Like everything else in our life we must take more responsibility and more control of who we want to benefit and that includes taking care of ourselves.
I am just finishing a trial where the drafting attorneys wrote themselves into the trust and diverted millions to themselves. These are well known and purportedly respected attorneys who have taken advantage of the people they are to serve. This type of activity needs to be confronted and challenged every time it occurs. It will not stop until people pay more attention to the powers they grant to their trustees.
It’s great!
It’s interesting!
Dear TTAN
Could not read your blog. If you translate it into English I will respond.
Thanks
Sue Farley
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I have been in a recent trial against a bank and drafting attorney of the trust and esate plan. the attorney drafted a very elaborate so called estate plan. Except he put himself in charge of all of the families wealth and in order to get the bank to go along divided the family money between himself and the bank. The children wound up with virtually none of the assets. In my book I warn about not allowing the drafting attorney to draft themselves in as trustee, beneficiary, overseer etc. It is a BAD idea.
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I think it’s important to mention that trusts (if properly looked over and handled by an experienced professional) can actually be one of the safest places to put money. But that’s a big if, and it requires a lot of professional expertise.
I’m glad that you pointed out the dangers of offshore accounts.
Ellen Klyce
small trusts are too expensive to maintain. the trustees take all the money in fees and charges so create one with you personally managing it for your child. Do not allow third parties to take over your money and assets. My experience has shown me that all too often the third party is too tempted by the money under their control. Unless your REALLY trust a third party keep track of and control of your own assets. When you die it is better just to give the assets outright, pay the taxes and be done with it.
Sue Farley
Daniel:
Offshore accounts are risky. The government is now cracking down and tracking these accounts plus the accounts themselves may not be safe. Be really carefull to do a full investigation into US government taxes and restrictions on such transfers and thoroughly investigate the country or offshore entities where you intend to place the funds. Sometimes the government of these islands, or countries just freeze or seize the funds. Not a good option!! Nonetheless there may be a few safe havens out there.
Sue Farley
Some years ago I read a lot about how to incorporate a trust offshore. It seems a good alternative for big money.
Hello!
Trust? I don’t have it in it.
Thank you for this post.
Trusts are a very complicated industry - and used by only a small proportion of the country! In the UK - trusts that look after a child until they are 18 are all but abolished under new legislatioon - as too many are using them as tax shields and nothing else.
I was the beneficiary of several trust over my life time, my fahter once filed 102 tax forms for his family of 7, most of them trust related instruments. One expired when i was 50! I never had any major problems as the trustess were old friends of my fathers and did it as volunteers but I never really benefited either. I have heard the horror stories, however. I have created 2 trusts for my daughter and will probably dissolve them both when she is 18, mainly becasue the accounting is so expensive it doesnt pay for the small amount in the trust. Interesting topic that involves, I believe, some US history of taxation and its evolution over the last 50 years.