• videocam Live Webinar with Live Q&A
  • calendar_month December 8, 2026 @ 1:00 PM ET/10:00 AM PT
  • signal_cellular_alt Intermediate
  • card_travel Estate Planning
  • schedule 90 minutes

Structuring Private Family Trust Companies and SPEs for High Net Worth Individuals and Families

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About the Course

Introduction

This CLE course will provide estate planning counsel and advisers with a practical guide to structuring private family trust companies (PFTCs) and special purpose entities (SPEs) for high net worth individuals and families. The panel will discuss the benefits and risks of PFTCs and other separate entities, describe ownership structures, and detail state law considerations in setting up PFTCs and other incorporated vehicles for holding family wealth.

Description

A powerful estate planning tool for ultra-wealthy families, the PFTC is a separate entity, frequently state-chartered, designed to provide fiduciary services to family members. Generally structured as limited liability companies or corporations, PFTCs are authorized under state law to serve as fiduciary for families.

Several states have well developed legal structures to accommodate PFTCs. These states have relatively similar definitions of family members eligible to be served by the PFTC and the extent of services and transactions a PFTC may provide. These companies can operate in conjunction with, or in place of, family offices and provide privacy, asset protection planning, flexibility, succession stability for families with significant wealth, and liability protection for trustees.

PFTCs share significant similarities with SPEs and trust protector corporations (TPCs) structured to work with directed trusts. SPEs permit a family to retain control over specific aspects of trust administration while relying on corporate fiduciaries to attend to all other administration tasks. Estate planners should know how to structure and use these stand alone entities to serve high net worth clients.

Listen as our experienced panel discusses the benefits and risks of PFTCs and other separate entities, ownership structures, and state law considerations in setting up PFTCs and other incorporated vehicles for holding family wealth.

Presented By

Vincent Aiello
Of Counsel
Spencer Fane LLP

Mr. Aiello is a Nevada-based attorney with 27 years of experience representing family offices, private foundations, and high-net-worth individuals in complex fiduciary disputes, dynasty trust litigation, asset management, and wealth preservation matters. He is one of a small number of practitioners in the Mountain West who combines sophisticated trust and estate litigation capabilities with deep transactional experience across the full range of asset classes commonly held by family offices, including commercial mixed-use real property acquisition and development, operating businesses in the hotel and timeshare space. Mr. Aiello frequently structures financing arrangements employed by these family offices. He has strategically built a practice around state-specific offerings, including multigenerational dynasty trusts, robust asset protection statutes, directed trust structures, and no state income tax. Mr. Aiello regularly advises on the formation, administration, and litigation of probate, trusts, and commercial holdings under Nevada law, including matters arising under NRS Chapters 153 & 163. He helps business owners, family office principals, trust companies, and their advisors use the state’s unique legal architecture to protect and transfer generational wealth, and when those structures are attacked, he defends them.

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Thomas A. Olson
Partner
Loeb & Loeb LLP

Mr. Olson maintains a broad trusts and estates practice, counseling high net worth individuals and families in all aspects of estate and tax planning. He has extensive experience advising clients on wealth transfer planning, family business succession and family office structuring. Mr. Olson regularly advises families on the creation, structuring and operation of private trust companies across various jurisdictions. He co-drafted Wyoming's 2019 legislation governing private trust companies. Additionally, Mr. Olson has counseled multi-family investment groups and registered investment advisory firms on the creation of public trust companies.

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Credit Information

  • This 90-minute webinar is eligible in most states for 1.5 CLE credits.


  • Live Online


    On Demand

Date + Time

  • event

    Tuesday, December 8, 2026

  • schedule

    1:00 PM ET/10:00 AM PT

I. Characteristics of PFTCs

A. State-chartered entity

B. Authorized to serve as a fiduciary

C. Exempt from SEC registration requirements

D. Limited to serving one family

II. PFTC formation considerations

A. Capital requirements

B. Public disclosures

C. Domicile or physical presence

III. States with PFTC statutes

IV. Transitioning from family office structure to PFTC

V. SPEs/TPCs as alternatives to PFTC structures

The panel will review these and other key issues:

  • Capital requirements and state regulatory burdens to consider in forming a PFTC
  • Traditional family office vs. PFTC structure
  • How PFTCs allow for family members to have greater involvement in structuring investment management policies and decisions than is permissible with an individual or corporate trustee
  • Operational and corporate governance issues to be addressed before establishment of a PFTC
  • Ongoing compliance issues to be addressed after establishment of a PFTC