Raleigh Dynasty Trust Attorney

Generation-Skipping Trusts in North Carolina

North Carolina allows a trust to last forever. A dynasty trust uses that rule, together with your generation-skipping transfer tax exemption, to create a family fund that benefits your children, grandchildren, and their descendants without ever being taxed in anyone's estate and without ever being exposed to a beneficiary's creditors or divorce.

How it works

You transfer assets to an irrevocable trust for your descendants and allocate your generation-skipping exemption ($15 million in 2026) to the gift. The trust is then exempt from GST tax no matter how large it grows. An independent trustee makes distributions in its discretion. Each child may become a co-trustee of his or her own share at an age you choose and may redirect the share among the next generation, but never owns it.

The trust is a grantor trust, so you pay its income tax while you are living. That alone can move millions of additional dollars to your family over time with no gift tax. The trust is also the natural buyer in a sale of your business interests, and the natural recipient of what a GRAT or QPRT leaves behind.

Who should consider it?

• Anyone making large gifts to use the exclusion, married or single.
• Business owners planning a sale.
• Parents who want to give a child substantial wealth without the risks of an outright gift.
• Families who want to keep a vacation home, a farm or a business in the family for generations.

How we price advanced planning

Advanced planning is priced case by case. These trusts are significantly more complex than a standard revocable trust or a Medicaid asset protection trust: each one involves tax modeling, valuation, coordination with your CPA and financial advisor, and years of administration that the document has to anticipate. For that reason, they are not on our flat-rate menu. After your consultation, we quote a flat fee for your specific plan, so you still know the full cost before any work begins.

Common questions

Will my children be able to use the money?

Yes. The trustee can distribute for any purpose you authorize: education, a home, a business, support. What the children cannot do is spend it carelessly, lose it in a divorce, or leave it exposed to creditors, and what their estates cannot do is pay tax on it.

How long can a North Carolina trust last?

Indefinitely. North Carolina repealed the rule against perpetuities for trusts in 2007, and the courts have upheld the repeal.

What is an intentionally defective grantor trust?

A trust that is outside your estate for estate tax purposes but treated as yours for income tax purposes. The mismatch is deliberate and is one of the most valuable features of modern trust planning.

Contact Us To Learn More Today

Schedule a consultation with Kevin Peach. We will tell you plainly whether advanced planning is right for your family and quote a flat fee for your plan. 

Call (919) 759-6353 today to schedule an initial consultation with our firm.

Disclaimer: This page is general information about North Carolina and federal estate planning, not legal advice, and does not create an attorney-client relationship. Exemption amounts are as of 2026 and change annually. Every plan depends on the client's facts, and no result is guaranteed.