TrustWorthy: New Angles on Trusts From Beneficiaries and Trustees

Book Synopsis: TrustWorthy is a collection of 25 personal – and positive – stories told by beneficiaries, trustees and their advisors. The book speaks to the human side of personal trusts, leaving the technical side (legal, tax, investments) to others. The book's objective? To begin to transform the most complex, conflicted and difficult relationship known under the law -- the “arranged marriage” between beneficiary and trustee -- by supplanting prevailing negative assumptions and behaviors. Readers are given a peek at “what other families do.”

Storytellers tackle big questions, for example: How can trusts be used to promote beneficiaries' maturity? What should I look for in a trustee? How can beneficiaries successfully integrate inheritances into their lives? How can trustees, prudently and within legal and other constraints, administer trusts in a way that enhances beneficiaries' lives? How can the widespread dissatisfaction, and all the talk of “problem” beneficiaries and “problem” trustees, give way to more creative and productive relationships?

Hartley Goldstone, J.D. and MBA, delights in being surprised by profound questions, having served families for 30 years at attorney, trustee and planner. Today, he is an accomplished speaker, educator and coach for trustees, inheritors in all stages of life, their families and advisors.

Kathy Wiseman, MBA and faculty at the Bowen Center for the Study of Family systems, assists people with the legacy potential of their family business, foundation and wealth. She educates families and their professionals about the human assets that underlie success for any trust/estate.

Here's what others say about TrustWorthy:

You are about to go on the positive journey that is the ongoing effort of Hartley and Kathy to reengineer the beneficiary/trustee relationship toward its higher functioning...
-From the Foreword to TrustWorthy, by James E. Hughes Jr., author of The Cycle of the Gift and Family Wealth

This is the one book to read this year if you are creating your estate plan, if you are a trustee or a beneficiary, or if you advise families of wealth. You will not think about trusts in the same way again.
-Charles W. Collier, Former Senior Philanthropic Advisor at Harvard University and author of Wealth in Families

TrustWorthy should be required reading not only for trustees and beneficiaries, but also for grantors and trusted family advisors. Hartley and Kathy’s decision to use storytelling to reveal the vast potential in the trustee and beneficiary relationship was a stroke of genius. The stories in this book are inspiring and do a great job of demonstrating how trusts can be used not only to transfer financial wealth, but also to transfer legacy from one generation to the next.
-Sara Hamilton, CEO and Founder, Family Office Exchange