Wealth Transfer Strategies for High-Net-Worth Families in Arkansas | Louisiana | Texas | Florida | Georgia | Oklahoma
The Use of Trusts
How Trusts Help High-Net-Worth Families Transfer Wealth Efficiently
Trusts are essential tools in effective wealth transfer—especially for families with significant assets and long-term legacy goals. At SSG Companies, we help clients across Louisiana, Texas, Georgia, Florida, Arkansas, and Oklahoma use trusts to preserve wealth, reduce estate taxes, and maintain control across generations.
Whether you're planning for a family business in East Texas or managing a multistate estate from your home in Baton Rouge, we’ll help you structure trusts that align with your vision, your values, and your beneficiaries.
WHY TRUSTS MATTER IN WEALTH TRANSFER
Trusts do more than hold assets—they clarify intentions, protect wealth from unnecessary taxation, and create continuity for future generations. In high-net-worth planning, they’re often the difference between a smooth legacy and a costly legal tangle.
We use a wide range of trust strategies to help clients:
- Move assets out of their taxable estate
- Preserve control over distributions
- Provide long-term support to heirs
- Shield assets from creditors and lawsuits
- Coordinate with charitable giving goals
Common Types of Trusts We Use
Each family is unique. Your plan may include one or more of the following structures:
Revocable Living Trusts
A foundational estate tool that helps avoid probate and allows for easy updates during your lifetime.
Intentionally Defective Grantor Trusts (IDGTs)
A strategic trust that allows the grantor to pay income tax on trust assets—further reducing estate size while allowing assets to grow outside the estate.
Charitable Remainder Trusts (CRTs)
Blend philanthropy with tax efficiency—providing income to you or your family now and benefiting a charity later.
Dynasty Trusts
Built to last for multiple generations, often used in combination with life insurance to support the Rockefeller Waterfall strategy.
Grantor Retained Annuity Trusts (GRATs)
Allow you to transfer appreciating assets to heirs with minimal gift tax exposure while retaining an income stream for a set period.
Irrevocable Life Insurance Trusts (ILITs)
Keep large life insurance policies outside your estate and direct the death benefit to loved ones, trusts, or charitable vehicles.
Key Advantages to Using Trusts In Your Wealth Plan
SOME KEY ADVANTAGES:
Maintain Control
Trusts can define how and when your wealth is distributed. Want to delay distributions until a child turns 30? Stagger inheritances over decades? Fund education but not lifestyle? A trust can be structured to do all of that—and more.
Avoid Probate
In Louisiana and surrounding states, probate can be costly, time-consuming, and public. Trusts help your estate avoid that burden and transition assets more efficiently.
Reduce Estate Taxes
By removing assets from your taxable estate, trusts can dramatically reduce future estate tax exposure—especially when paired with lifetime gifting strategies.
Protect Beneficiaries
Whether shielding an inheritance from creditors, lawsuits, divorce, or poor financial decisions, trusts add a layer of control and protection.
How We Help You Choose the Right Trust Strategy
We begin by learning about your assets, your values, and your family dynamics. Then we help you identify the right trust structures based on:
- Tax efficiency
- Asset types (businesses, real estate, investment accounts)
- Control preferences
- Philanthropic goals
- Generational priorities
We collaborate with your attorneys and CPAs to make sure everything is aligned—and we stay involved to update the plan as your life and laws evolve.
Real Guidance. Regional Focus.
Based in Shreveport, we work with families throughout the Gulf South, from estate-heavy farmland in Arkansas to business owners in New Orleans and retirees in the Florida Panhandle. Our team understands how to use trusts not just as legal documents—but as tools to deliver lasting clarity, protection, and peace of mind.
What to Ask When Considering a Trust-Based Plan
- Will this trust help reduce estate taxes?
- Who controls the assets during my lifetime—and after?
- What are the long-term distribution rules?
- How will this trust interact with my other planning tools?
- Are there privacy or asset protection advantages?
We’ll help you answer each of these and build a strategy that fits your life—not just your balance sheet.
Want to Learn More About Trust Strategies?
Visit our Resource Library to read about the most common trust types used in high-net-worth planning, or request a copy of It’s Your Money by John G. Griffin to explore real-world applications of trust-based strategies.
Take the Next Step
If you’re ready to explore how trusts can strengthen your estate plan, we’re here to help. Let’s talk about what matters most to you—and build the right structures to support it.