Personal Trust Administration

Our Advisor Commitment

Millennium Trust provides personal and charitable trust services for Advisor clients without requiring that the trust assets be internally managed by Millennium.  As an experienced and versatile trust company, Millennium has some of the broadest trust proficiency, knowledge, and staffing experience in our industry.

Trusts and the Advisor's Conundrum

A trust is a superb instrument for administering wealth, combining custody and recordkeeping services with asset management and a wide range of fiduciary services. The use of trusts is clearly growing, paralleling the demographic “baby boomer” wealth bulge.  Ironically, trusts have become an inadvertent competitor for many investment advisors because many custodians cannot or will not act as trustee, and those that do, demand the asset manager role as well.  The advisor ultimately loses a valuable client, not because of performance or style, but because of a basic administrative need that could not be met.

Millennium Trust provides a solution by providing a safe trust administrative platform that protects advisor client relationships while advisors continue to manage the trust assets.

Our Trust Services

We Serve as Trustee for the following types of Trusts:

Millennium Trust is an Illinois chartered trust company.  However, since advisors are primarily referring business to us and not acting as our agent, Millennium Trust will administer trusts and provide custody services in most states. 

Financial Recordkeeping Services Include:

Trust services at Millennium are the responsibility of the Director's Committee which works through two important sub-committees that oversee the day to day operations of all trust relationships.  The Trust Investment Committees responsibility is to review all assets, investment performance and asset allocation to ascertain if the Investment Policy Statement terms are being met. The Trust Administration and Operations Committee is responsible for all administrative actions including discretionary payments of principal. 

Millennium Trust Company, LLC is a member of AITCO-Association of Independent Trust Companies and RITA-Retirement Industry Trust Association.

Trust and Custody fees are generally negotiable depending upon the requirements and stipulations of the trust agreement, and begin at 65 basis points.

Definitions of Trust Terms

Will

A document that controls the flow of your personal property like jewelry, family heirlooms, and assets held in your name only.  It does not control what passes by beneficiary designation (life insurance, IRAs, retirement plans, Transfer on Death agreements), by contract (joint tenancy with rights of survivorship), or by trust.

 

Trust

A separate entity that holds property for the benefit of either the grantor (creator) of the trust or his or her heirs.  A trustee manages the assets that are placed in the trust and makes sure that the terms of the trust are followed.

 

Living Trust

A trust that is established while you are alive.  You can declare yourself the trustee of the trust until you are no longer able to act on your own behalf.  You can set standards for determining capacity -- for example, your doctor and your spouse must agree that you are unable to act.  Assets must be retitled in the name of your living trust.  At your death, any assets in the living trust do not have to go through probate.

 

Testamentary Trust

Just the opposite of a "living trust."  This trust isn't established until after you die.  Your will typically includes the language to establish these trusts at your death.

 

Marital Trust

Also known as an "A" trust, the marital trust provides management for assets passed to your spouse.  The alternative is to leave assets for your spouse outright (no trust).  A trust can add a level of comfort that someone is available to manage the assets.  If no restrictions are placed on what happens to the assets at the second death, it's called a general power of appointment.  If you choose to control what happens at the second death, you need to establish a Qualified Terminable Interest Property trust or "QTIP" trust (a stricter form of marital trust).

 

QTIP Trust

Often used in second marriages where children are involved, a QTIP trust allows the creator of the trust to determine where his or her assets will ultimately go after the second spouse dies.

 

Family Trust

Also known as  a "B" trust, or credit equivalent trust, the family trust is funded with up to the maximum assets that can pass with no tax due (currently $1,000,000).  These assets are taxed at death, but since each person has a unified credit, no tax is actually due.  Once these assets have been taxed (with no tax due), they are free to grow to any amount and will never be taxed again for estate tax purposes.

 

Qualified Domestic Trust

A type of trust that can be set up for the benefit of a non-U.S. citizen spouse to help defer estate taxes to a future date.

 

Trustee

A person who holds title to assets that will be used for the benefit of someone else.  When choosing a trustee for your trust, look for someone who is financially capable, responsible, and sensitive to your family's needs.

 

Special Needs Trust

A type of trust that can be set up for a disabled person.  By specifying that assets are to be used only for "luxuries" and not basic care, the trust allows the disabled person to continue being eligible for government financial aid.

 

Charitable Remainder Trust

A trust that is established to ultimately benefit a qualified charity.  These types of trusts can be set up so that the grantor (creator) of the trust receives a stream of income during his or her lifetime.  At the grantor's death, the balance of the trust passes to the charity tax-free.  When you set up a charitable remainder trust, you get the benefit of a current tax deduction.


Millennium Trust Company, LLC
820 Jorie Boulevard, Suite 420
Oak Brook, Illinois 60523
800-258-7878