Colony Trust Company is expanding to Tennessee

November 2021

Colony Trust Company, LLC is pleased to announce the opening of a branch office in Nashville, TN. Tennessee is a leader in progressive trust legislation and one of the more favorable states to establish and administer a trust.* We are excited to be able to offer corporate trustee services under the governing laws of both North Carolina and Tennessee going forward. Some of the advantages Tennessee offers over trusts administered in North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Florida and a majority of other states include:

  • Community property trusts created in TN allow the potential for contributions of assets by out-of-state couples in order to qualify the assets for 100% step-up in basis on the death of both spouses
  • Relaxed notice requirements to qualified beneficiaries in order to decant a trust in TN
  • Possibility of mitigating state income taxes of an irrevocable non-grantor trust; provided, the trust has no other taxable connection with another state as articulated in that state’s taxing statute or the recent landmark Supreme Court case of N.C. Dep’t of Revenue v. The Kimberley Rice Kaestner 1992 Family Trust.

Colony Trust Company opened as a North Carolina public trust company in 2018. We currently serve in a fiduciary role for over $1.1 billion in assets under administration and do not manage investments. Colony Trust Company’s sister company Colony Family Offices is a multi-family office with over $2.15 billion** in assets under management that provides comprehensive wealth advisory services to a select group of client families across all regions of the country. Our mission is to provide financial peace of mind to families with significant wealth. The Colony team works closely with each client family and their other trusted advisors to develop an integrated financial strategy. Our objective is to develop long-term professional relationships with client families and serve them for generations to come.

As professional trustees, we have the technical expertise and flexibility to serve families in a variety of ways, including:

  • Sole corporate trustee with full fiduciary powers
  • Co-trustee with an individual trustee to support them in their fiduciary role
  • Directed trustee with a third-party committee, trust protector and/or investment advisor
  • Successor trustee
  • Executor, co-executor or agent
  • Trust protector

We continue to serve client families by exercising sound and prudent judgment based upon our fiduciary duties, experience and collective knowledge. We strive to understand our client families and serve them in a nimble, flexible and practical manner when meeting their needs.

To learn more about our Tennessee branch or how its governing law may be beneficial to your family or your clients, please feel free to contact us.

To read our press release, please click here.

*Source: Oshins Trust State Rankings, 2020-2021
**As defined by the SEC, as of June 30, 2021