What is a Private Family Trust Company?

The PFTC is typically a family owned South Dakota LLC which is authorized by the South Dakota Division of Banking to be a PFTC and serve as the trustee for the family trusts. These trusts may be both South Dakota law trusts as well as non-South Dakota law trusts. The governance of the PFTC is generally structured like a corporation (i.e., board of managers/directors) working with both distribution committees responsible for trust distributions and investment committees responsible for trust investments. All of these committees are generally appointed by the PFTC board and generally are made up of family members and their trusted advisors. A minimum of three board members must be chosen and only one board member must be from South Dakota. Typically, SDTC serves as the South Dakota board member.

The typical modern South Dakota Private Family Trust Company structure promoting flexibility and control is outlined below: