THE BARATELLI INSTITUTE · Mentoring at Scale
TRUST STRUCTURE DECISION SUPPORT

Twelve trust types.
One that fits your situation.

GRAT, IDGT, SLAT, Dynasty, CRT, CLT, ILIT, QPRT, BDIT, DAPT, Bypass, Marital — they each solve a different problem. Five questions and the right three options surface, with the rationale.

YOUR SITUATION
1
Primary goal
2
Family
3
Assets
4
Control & access
5
Recommendations
STAGE 1 OF 5

What problem are you solving?

Trusts solve different problems. Pick the one or two most important to you. The recommendation will weight from there.

Reduce estate tax / transfer wealth
Get assets out of your taxable estate before you die. Use exemption efficiently.
Asset protection
Protect from creditors, lawsuits, divorce. Often medical, real estate, or high-liability professionals.
Charitable giving with tax benefit
Capture deduction now, give over time. Often paired with low-basis stock or business sale.
Generate income stream
Want an income stream to me or my spouse, with eventual transfer.
Multi-generational continuity
Long-term wealth — grandchildren, great-grandchildren, or beyond.
Control after death
Direct distributions, set conditions, prevent dissipation by heirs.
STAGE 2 OF 5

Your family

Different trust types require different family structures.

Honest read on whether your beneficiaries can handle wealth without conditions or guidance.
STAGE 3 OF 5

Your assets

Trust selection depends heavily on what kind of assets are funding the trust. Toggle anything that's a meaningful piece of the picture.

Appreciating business interest
Pre-IPO equity, founder stock, growing private company.
Real estate (residence)
Personal residence(s) you may want to gift to family.
Real estate (investment)
Rental properties, commercial real estate.
Low-basis stock or assets
Highly appreciated holdings with significant capital-gains exposure.
Significant liquid investments
Marketable securities, hedge funds, mutual funds.
Intellectual property / royalties
Patents, copyrights, royalty streams.
Significant life insurance
$1M+ death benefit currently held by you.
Pending liquidity event
Sale, IPO, or other major monetization within 18 months.
STAGE 4 OF 5

Control and access

How much control are you willing to give up? How much access do you need?

STAGE 5 OF 5 · YOUR PERSONALIZED SHORTLIST

Your top trust types

Top match: ...
Calculating fit...

Top three trust types for your situation

Other options to discuss with counsel

What to do next

STEP 1
Bring this output to a qualified estate attorney.
This tool is decision-support, not legal advice. Trust drafting and selection is jurisdiction-specific, fact-specific, and requires a licensed attorney. The tool's job is to make the conversation more efficient — you walk in knowing which structures to ask about instead of starting from zero.
STEP 2
Coordinate trust selection with your CPA and current advisors.
Trusts have ongoing tax filing obligations, distribution mechanics, and accounting requirements. Make sure your CPA is comfortable with the structure before you fund it. The Trust Administration Guide in the Baratelli Institute library covers ongoing operations in depth.
STEP 3
Don't fund prematurely. Get the structure right first.
Funding a trust before the document is fully aligned with your goals creates expensive problems. Most attorneys will fund only after the structure has been reviewed, signed, and properly registered. Trust the process even if it feels slow.
FROM THE ESTATE PLANNING DECEDENT GUIDE + TRUST ADMINISTRATION GUIDE

Get the trust selection & administration playbook by email.

Includes: full trust-type comparison matrix, attorney selection scorecard, funding checklist, ongoing administration calendar, and the Trust Administration handbook for ongoing operations.

This tool is decision-support and educational, not legal or tax advice. Trust law is state-specific and federal trust/estate tax law changes frequently. Federal estate exemption shown reflects post-OBBBA permanent amounts ($15M individual, $30M married, indexed for inflation). Consult a qualified estate attorney and CPA before establishing or funding any trust.
WANT THE METHODOLOGY BEHIND THIS TOOL?
This calculator is one chapter of Estate Planning Decoded.
The tool gives you the answer. The guide gives you the argument — the case law, the worked examples, the negotiation playbook, the cross-check tables, the exception cases. Read the chapter and you can defend your number to a board, a buyer, an examiner, or a counterparty.
The methodology behind this calculator is in Ch 4-9 The Trust Toolkit of the reference guide.
See the Guide → Browse all 22 guides
PROFESSIONAL DISCLAIMER · PLEASE READ

Educational and informational purposes only. This calculator and any output it produces are intended solely for general educational and decision-support purposes. They do not constitute investment, tax, legal, accounting, appraisal, lending, insurance, or any other professional advice, and they do not create a fiduciary, attorney-client, accountant-client, or advisor-client relationship of any kind.

Estimates based on your inputs. All results are estimates derived from the data and assumptions you provide. Tax law, accounting standards, regulations, market conditions, and the specific facts of your situation can materially change the answer. The Baratelli Institute, its affiliates, and any co-branding professional make no warranty of accuracy, completeness, currency, or fitness for any particular purpose, and disclaim all liability for decisions made in reliance on the output.

Consult your own qualified professionals. Before acting on anything calculated here, consult your own attorney, CPA, financial advisor, appraiser, lender, or other qualified professional licensed in your jurisdiction who has reviewed your specific facts and applicable current law. The Baratelli Institute is a publisher of practitioner reference material. It is not a registered investment adviser, broker-dealer, law firm, accounting firm, appraisal firm, or lender.

Co-branded versions: If a professional advisor's name and contact information appear on this tool, that advisor has elected to make the tool available to clients as a courtesy. Inclusion of an advisor's name does not constitute the advisor's endorsement of any specific result, nor does it transfer professional responsibility for the underlying methodology to that advisor. The disclaimer above applies regardless of co-branding.