Retaining Control Or Influence When Setting Up A Trust

While trusts are widely used for succession planning and family wealth management, they require a genuine transfer of legal ownership and decision-making authority.

Ceding control is often the most difficult aspect of establishing a trust. Transferring valuable assets into a structure that a client no longer legally owns or directly controls raises understandable concerns, particularly where those assets have been built up over many years.

Clients therefore often ask whether they can retain some influence as settlor (the individual who establishes the trust and transfers assets into it is referred to as the "settlor". The answer is generally yes, with careful planning, during your lifetime, and only to a limited extent.