TL;DR
- One family set up a revocable trust, pour-over wills, a guardian and conservator nomination, and powers of attorney with an estate planning attorney.
- A trust only controls assets titled in its name, so retitling accounts takes real time and effort.
- The family opened a Kraken account in the trust’s name using trust documentation, trustee identification, and a taxpayer identification number.
- This is one family’s experience, not advice. Talk to a qualified estate planning attorney and tax adviser.
Setting up a trust is rarely quick or comfortable. There’s paperwork, but mostly there are people: who you’d trust, who you’d ask, and what you’d want them to know.
Below, one of our clients shares how their family approached it, from the first conversation with an attorney to opening a Kraken account in the trust’s name. It’s one family’s experience, in their words. It isn’t advice, and every situation is different, but if you’re considering something similar, it’s a useful look at what the process involved.
Important: This article describes one Kraken client’s personal experience. It is not legal, tax, financial, or estate planning advice, and Kraken does not provide it. Estate and trust laws vary by state and country, and individual circumstances differ. Speak with a qualified estate planning attorney and tax adviser before making decisions.
Why we started at 40
We turned 40 and started to feel old. More to the point, we started worrying about what would happen to our child, then 10, if we were not around. We live in Massachusetts, so we asked an estate planning attorney there for advice.
We also figured the plan would be worth having even if we live another 40 years. It will still do its job when our child is an adult.
What we set up
On our attorney’s advice, we created a revocable trust. “Revocable” means we can change or cancel it during our lifetimes. The package included:
- A revocable trust, with my husband and me as the trustees (the people who manage the trust’s assets).
- A “pour-over” will for each of us. A pour-over will directs any assets left outside the trust at death into the trust.
- A nomination of a guardian and a conservator for our child. The guardian cares for a minor child; a conservator manages a minor’s money and property.
- A power of attorney for each of us, which lets a named person handle financial matters if we cannot.
- A health care proxy for each of us, which names someone to make medical decisions if we cannot.
What our attorney said the trust was for
Our attorney explained two main purposes. The first was to avoid probate, the court-supervised process for settling a person’s estate. The second was to manage assets for our child: the trust provides that a trustee manages the assets until she turns 25.
One more point on taxes. A revocable trust, by itself, did not reduce our estate taxes. Federal and Massachusetts estate tax rules apply separately, and whether they matter depends on your circumstances. That is a question for your own attorney and tax adviser.
The hardest part: choosing who would serve
If both of us die, the trust’s successor trustee is my husband’s brother. If that person is unable to serve, a close friend from law school steps in. We left out my brother, who didn’t make the cut on responsibility.
Deciding was hard. Telling these people, asking whether they were willing to serve, and getting their agreement was harder. We had several interviews with the law firm before we were done.
A message to our child
Our attorney also had us record a message to our daughter, to be shared if we were gone. It felt strange and, oddly, satisfying. We told her what we wanted her to know about us. We said that reading matters to us, and that we do not expect her to be perfect, only to pursue a life that has meaning to her.
Moving our assets into the trust
A trust only controls what is titled in its name, so we retitled everything: our bank accounts, our house, and our brokerage accounts. It was tedious, and it is the part of the process I would warn others about: lots of letters to banks and brokerages, providing the trust documents, etc.
Opening a Kraken account in the trust’s name
Our Kraken account was opened in the name of the trust from the start. We found it easy. Kraken’s standard onboarding flow for legal entities also handles trusts. We provided:
- The trust documentation.
- Identification for both trustees.
- A taxpayer identification number. Because ours is a revocable trust, this was one of our own numbers. Your situation may differ, so ask your attorney or tax adviser.
Kraken reviewed the documents quickly, and the account was approved within hours, not days. Timing will vary for each client and is not guaranteed.
That was not my experience elsewhere. When I tried to open accounts in the trust’s name at other major US exchanges, the applications sat in onboarding review for days, because they did not seem to know what to do with a trust. In my experience, Kraken’s support team handling this well was a real difference.
Cost and time
Legal fees were about $7,000, and the work took about a month. Fees vary widely by attorney, location, and complexity.
Takeaways from one client
These are our personal observations, not recommendations:
- Start with an estate planning attorney in your state. Rules vary across US states and other countries.
- Expect the decisions about people, not the paperwork, to take the most thought.
- A trust only works for assets titled in it, so plan time to retitle accounts.
- Before opening any account in a trust’s name, check what the trust documents and your attorney say about who may act for the trust.
The right structure depends on where you live, what you own, and what you want to protect. That conversation belongs with your estate planning attorney and tax adviser. Opening the account in the trust’s name meant my crypto and equities holdings at Kraken sit inside the same plan as everything else we own. Today, my husband and I manage it as trustees. If something happens to us, our attorney explained that the successor trustees named in the trust, rather than a probate court, would be responsible for managing our assets for our daughter until she turns 25.
For me, the real benefit is peace of mind. If we die, my daughter (who is now 16) and the trustee can go to one place to figure out where our assets are – a big binder with the trust and all the other documents and a list of our accounts (which are held by the trust).
Considering a similar setup?
If you’re a Kraken VIP member and considering holding assets with us through a trust or other legal entity, your Relationship Manager can walk you through account-opening steps and documentation requirements.
If you’d like to learn more about Kraken VIP membership – including private relationship management, early product access, bespoke experiences, and more – get in touch.