Driftwood does not draft, amend, or interpret. It keeps titling, beneficiaries, and funding consistent with what you drafted, holds the open decisions in one register, and brings you in before a decision moves rather than after it has.
You are a permanent seat, not a relationship being routed around. Driftwood holds the seat no one owns today: keeping the balance sheet consistent with the instruments.
Driftwood coordinates with your firm and does not provide legal advice. Your engagement, and your client relationship, remain yours.
The trust is signed, and never funded.
Funding is a standing register entry with a date, not a closing item. It stays open, and visible, until every asset is actually retitled.
A beneficiary form quietly overrides the plan.
Every designation is read against the documents at onboarding, and re-read whenever an account is opened, rolled, or inherited.
You hear about the sale after the letter of intent.
You are brought in while the entity, the timing, and the gifting capacity are still choices, not once value is locked in.
| When this happens | What we bring you | So the outcome is |
|---|---|---|
| A new or amended trust | A funding schedule and the current titling of every account, in one page | The instrument is funded as drafted, on a date, rather than eventually |
| Death of a spouse | The basis picture, an account inventory, and the survivor's bracket | Elections are made inside their windows, and nothing is sold to fund them |
| A business sale or transfer | Entity structure, valuation timing, and remaining gifting capacity | Gifting happens before value is locked in, not in the year after |
| A move across state lines | Domicile facts, the situs of each trust, and the new estate exposure | Illinois exposure above its $4M exemption is priced before the move |
| A gift or charitable transfer | Basis and holding period by lot, and which asset should move | The right asset leaves the estate, and the deduction is not wasted |
All three are illustrative models, free, and require no sign up. The Atlas opens on Illinois; change the state in one click, or open the Tax Diagnostic to price a specific household's exposure.