trust firm quarterly newsletter - january 2011
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7/30/2019 Trust Firm Quarterly Newsletter - January 2011
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A WORDF R O M F O R E T H O U G H T T R U S T
January 2011 Volume 6 Issue 1
On December 6th, FFSB Easy Trust Planners became even easier! A newly designed
envelope allows individual packaging of the preneed furneral planning trust
agreements. Now order precisely the number of kits you need, reducing waste and
keeping costs down. In addition, the new envelope allows you to give the purchaser a
of their paperwork in a nice neat package. And no more refilling your Easy Trust Planne
box. Its just that easy!
You will find the same forms and business reply envelopes inside the new package.
An easy to follow instruction sheet is also included to help in completing the forms.
If you have any questions, or would like additional details, please email Trust Operation
Getting to know your provider
Meet Anita Williams, Forethought Trust Administrator. Anita joined the Forethought Trust Team inJuly 2010 assuming a role as a Trust Administrator in our Texas offices. Anita has worked in the trust and
investment field for more than 25 years as a Trust Administrator and Trust Operations Manager. Most
recently, Anita worked for eight years as a Trust Administrator at Kanaly Trust Company managing Texas
Prepaid Funeral Trusts. She grew up in Ohio and went to college at Anderson University in Indiana prior to
moving to Houston. She is excited about being a member of the Forethought Trust Team and enjoys
working with clients and developing long lasting client relationships. Anita teaches Country/Western dan
and has won numerous competitions as a competitor and as a pro-am coach. She also works with Central
Texas Dachshund Rescue as a foster mom to give doxies a second chance at life.
FFSB Easy Trust Plannersmade even easier!
2010 tax year statements Qualifed uneral trust (QFT) electio
As the tax year 2010 comes to a close, tax statements will soon
be mailed to the purchasers of FFSB preneed trusts where thefuneral home has notelected QFT (Qualified Funeral Trust).
Internal Revenue Service (IRS) regulations require FFSB to send
Grantor Letters (substitute Form 1099) to the purchasers of
preneed trusts. These letters provide the purchasers with the
information necessary to report the income from the trust on
their personal income tax returns. As these letters are received
by families, there tends to be questions about the Grantor
Letters which leads to phone calls to the funeral homes and
cemeteries. The FFSB Trust Operations staff is available to assist
you in explaining this requirement to your families and to
answer any other questions you may have.
QFT election is available for all new Grantor trust contracts as
well as existing preneed trust contracts. Effective January 1, 200the IRS removed the cap on the value of a preneed trust contra
to be eligible for QFT. By making the QFT election, the prenee
trust will pay the tax. The QFT election also eliminates the IRS
requirement that the purchasers of a preneed trust receive a
Grantor Letter each tax year. If you wish to take advantage of
the QFT election for the tax year 2010, please send an email
detailing your request to elect QFT by March 1, 2011 [email protected] . This election only need
to be done once and is effective for all future tax years.
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Contact Forethought Federal Savings Bank
Call: 1-800-763-0234 Write: Forethought Federal Savings Bank
Fax: 1-866-208-1236 P.O. Box 59
Visit: www.forethought.com One Forethought Center
Email: [email protected] Batesville, IN 47006
During 2010, FFSB made great strides to expand its authority to
serve as trustee of preneed funeral trust funds. Since February,
we have added the following eight states:
In addition, we anticipate adding at least three more states to
the list in the first quarter of 2011 and will continue to seek new
opportunities throughout the coming year. If you are interested
in learning more about our trust services in these states or any
that we currently serve in, give us a call. We will be happy to
assist you in consolidating your trust business!
2011 FFS
0111
Forethought advertisement
Marketing/advertising news
2011 holiday schedule
State expansion summary or 2010
Massachusetts
Minnesota
New Jersey
New Hampshire
North Carolina
South Carolina
West Virginia
Wisconsin
Forethought employees will observe the following holidays
in 2011. The office will be closed on:
Good Friday
April 22, 2011
Memorial Day
May 30, 2011
Independence Day
July 4, 2011Labor Day
September 5, 2011
Thanksgiving Day
November 24, 2011
Day ater Thanksgiving
November 25, 2011
Christmas Eve
December 23, 2011Christmas Day
December 26, 2011Look for Forethought advertisements in the January editions of
theAmerican Funeral Directorand the ICCFA magazine.
There has been a lot of activity with the trust marketing materials
recently. Two new service forms are available to assist you with
some of your most common tasks related to trust contract
maintenance. 1.The Trust Change Form allows you to submit
name, address, date of birth, and social security number
changes as well as to make a contract irrevocable. 2.The
Funeral Planning Agreement Cancellation Request form is
simple, easy to use, and speeds up the process by obtaining all
the required information at one time. Both of these forms are
available to print from www.forethought.com in the Trust
Services section.
Revised Kentucky Funeral PlanningAgreement changes include updating
the form to letter size and redesigning
the layout making it easier to read
and understand. These will be phased
in over the next couple of months as
the old inventory runs out. Both the
old and new forms will continue to
be accepted.
The updated Forethought Trust Services Benefit
of Planning Ahead brochure is available for on-
premise awareness or can be used as a mailer to
families thinking about pre-planning. It is a tri-fo
brochure and can be ordered by contacting Trust
Operations at [email protected]
We have found e-mail to be a great way to
communicate these types of changes to you. If you are not
receiving the e-mail updates and would like to be included,
send your e-mail address and funeral home name to
FFS.Trust.Operations@ forethought.com and we will add you
to the list.