What should you look for in a Trust Management System?

If you want to protect yourself and your firm against future complaints against your trust practice then it’s vital to keep good records…in one place!

Trusts tend to be long-term so it’s often a few years or even decades before you start getting tricky questions. During that time staff will have changed and, unless all trust documents are stored in a central location, it’s going to take time to find the information you need.

That’s where a trust management system comes in – it ensures consistency in record keeping over time. But it can also deliver so much more than that.

So, what makes a good trust management system?

We’ve distilled it down into 7 things:

1. Precedents that have been tested through the Court system and have withstood scrutiny. It’s important that the people who have put together the templates and checklists are recognised trust experts.
2. The ability to upload your own document templates and letters and have these fully integrate with the trust data for quick and easy document construction.
3. A good range and depth of content – the deeds, minutes and resolutions should cover every scenario. But if there is a gap you need to be able to easily add your own template.
4. A system that helps you keep on top of changes. If legislation changes the templates need to be amended within a few days. You should receive alerts via email to let you know of changes and to give you a heads up that you need to review any of your own templates you’ve uploaded.
5. A system that reminds and prompts you to be a good trust manager – suggesting annual reviews, rent reviews and prompting you to gift if appropriate.
6. An easy transition process.
7. A cloud-based system that allows information sharing between trustees and other advisers. Your firm should be able to determine access rights. The benefits of everyone being able to see the information is that you’ll get fewer enquiries for trust documents as your clients can access them directly and your clients may well call you to ask about missing documents – resulting in more income for you.

A trust management system is much more than a central repository of trusts information. It’s a way to mitigate the risks associated with a trusts practice by encouraging a proactive approach to their management; and in so doing grow your revenue.