Conshohocken, PA -- (SBWIRE) -- 04/19/2016 -- Sterling Trustees, a South Dakota-chartered trust company that offers trust administration services, recently shared valuable information regarding the differences between delegated and directed trusts. The two types of trusts carry subtle, but distinct, differences in decision factors like risk and fees associated with managing them. "This information will help prospective clients make informed decisions about protecting their investments and assets," according to Antony Joffe, President of Sterling Trustees.

A delegated trust delegates the responsibilities of investment management to third-party investment managers for which the delegated trustee is responsible for monitoring and managing. In addition, a delegated trustee is tasked with making distribution decisions. This type of trust typically has increased risk as opposed to a directed trust because of the responsibility of having to monitor the third-party investment advisor as well as discretionary authority to make distributions. For that reason, administrative fees are typically higher than that of a directed trust.

With directed trusts, as the name implies, the trustee takes direction from third parties that have been appointed by the grantor to take on the role of making investment and distribution decisions. The allocation of responsibilities among the appointed parties all but eliminates any fiduciary risk for the trustee, which allows them to charge lower fees.

Directed trusts based in South Dakota, such as those managed by Sterling Trustees, have particular benefits for clients. South Dakota has a notably hospitable trust and tax environment, which helps clients to protect their assets. With a firm like Sterling Trustees, clients will also gain the benefits of using an independent corporate trustee who is conflict-free since the firm does not manage assets. Lastly, by appointing third parties to make the investment and distribution decisions, clients can greatly reduce the cost of maintaining a trust in order to protect assets from estate tax or creditors.

Learn more at http://www.sterlingtrustees.com.

About Sterling Trustees
Sterling Trustees is a fee-only trust administration firm located in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. By working independently, the firm allows its clients to avoid the extra costs and conflicts of interest associated with large financial institutions. Sterling Trustees' main goal is to keep assets safe while remaining objective.

For more information, please visit http://www.sterlingtrustees.com.