Grantor Trust Planning: The Issues, The Strategies and The Threats to Bring it Down

• Identify the issues related to planning with grantor trusts.
• Recognize strategies to make the best use of grantor trusts in planning for your clients.
• Determine the viability for grantor trusts planning going forward.

Why Should You Attend?

Grantor trusts and non-grantor trusts are the two main types of funded trusts that hold assets. The type of trust you’re administering determines whether you must file Form 1041 for the trust, or declare all items of income and deductions on the grantor’s Form 1040.

All trusts have a grantor, the person who creates the trust. All trusts also involve trustees, beneficiaries, and remaindermen. The relationship of the grantor to the other individuals involved in the trust determines whether a trust is a grantor trust or a non-grantor trust.

Non-grantor trusts are treated as separate entities (like a C-Corporation). But grantors of grantor trusts maintain significant rights to the trust’s assets and income. Because of that, they’re treated as if they are direct owners of the trust assets (like a sole proprietorship).