TrustWorthy is a collection of 25 personal -- and positive -- stories told by beneficiaries, trustees and their advisors. The book speaks to the human side of personal trusts, leaving the technical side (legal, tax, investments) to others.
The book's objective? To begin to transform the most complex, conflicted and difficult relationship known under the law -- the "arranged marriage" between beneficiary and trustee -- by supplanting prevailing negative assumptions and behaviors. Readers are given a peek at "what other families do."
Storytellers tackle big questions, for example:
- How can trusts be used to promote beneficiaries' maturity?
- What should I look for in a trustee?
- How can beneficiaries successfully integrate inheritances into their lives?
- How can trustees, prudently and within legal and other constraints, administer trusts in a way that enhances beneficiaries' lives?
- How can the widespread dissatisfaction, and all the talk of "problem" beneficiaries and "problem" trustees, give way to more creative and productive relationships?
Hartley Goldstone, J.D. and MBA, delights in being surprised by profound questions, having served families for 30 years at attorney, trustee and planner. Today, he is an accomplished speaker, educator and coach for trustees, inheritors in all stages of life, their families and advisors.
Kathy Wiseman, MBA and faculty at the Bowen Center for the Study of Family systems, assists people with the legacy potential of their family business, foundation and wealth. She educates families and their professionals about the human assets that underlie success for any trust/estate.
Here's what others say about TrustWorthy
You are about to go on the positive journey that is the ongoing effort of Hartley and Kathy to reengineer the beneficiary/trustee relationship toward its higher functioning...
-From the Foreword to TrustWorthy, by James E. Hughes Jr., author of The Cycle of the Gift and Family Wealth
This is the one book to read this year if you are creating your estate plan, if you are a trustee or a beneficiary, or if you advise families of wealth. You will not think about trusts in the same way again.
-Charles W. Collier, Former Senior Philanthropic Advisor at Harvard University and author of Wealth in Families
TrustWorthy should be required reading not only for trustees and beneficiaries, but also for grantors and trusted family advisors. Hartley and Kathy's decision to use storytelling to reveal the vast potential in the trustee and beneficiary relationship was a stroke of genius. The stories in this book are inspiring and do a great job of demonstrating how trusts can be used not only to transfer financial wealth, but also to transfer legacy from one generation to the next.
-Sara Hamilton, CEO and Founder, Family Office Exchange
HARTLEY GOLDSTONE founded Navigating the Trustscape(TM) after serving families for thirty years as attorney, trustee and planner. He is a strategic and tactical advisor for institutional and individual trustees and inheritors in all stages of life. He offers workshops for trustees and for trust beneficiaries, facilitated family meetings, personal consulting and speaking engagements directed toward reframing trust relationships that too often fail downstream generations and the trustees that serve them. Hartley's focus is on raising trustee and beneficiary awareness of the possibilities in their relationships, followed by practical next steps to fulfill the potential of personal trusts to enhance the lives of beneficiaries within the legal and other constraints. Beneficiaries and trustees who strive for excellence seek to understand the power (and fragility) of the relationship. KATHY WISEMAN, MBA, is the founder and president of Working Systems, Inc., a firm dedicated to enhancing generational transitions in family businesses, family offices and family foundations. Based on the latest studies of family relationship systems, Wiseman uses a variety of distinct techniques to facilitate engagement, participation and decision-making as she assists families navigate through times of high-stake change. Wiseman is a faculty member of the Georgetown University Family Center and Bowen Center for the Study of the Family, where she lectures on decision making and effective management in systems considering or experiencing change. She is an adjunct faculty member at George Washington University's Center for Entrepreneurial Excellence, where she co-directs the Family Office Forum a private forum developed for family office leaders to share best practices, participate in a peer network, challenge their thinking and act as a resource for insight and opportunities.
