Technical article
A Letter of Wishes: What It Is and What It Cannot Do
It is a separate paper, written by the person who sets up the trust, that the trustee reads beside the deed.
Imagine a father who wants his trust to help pay for his granddaughter's school and for one trip home each year for every branch of the family. The deed is a formal paper, written by a lawyer, and it will be read by a trustee for decades. Where does he put the things he can say in plain words but cannot easily fit into the legal text?
A letter of wishes is one answer. It is a separate paper, written by the person who sets up the trust, that the trustee reads beside the deed.
What the sources say about it
| Where | What the source says | Tier |
|---|---|---|
| A South Dakota trustee's set-up checklist, 2014 | Asks for a draft letter of wishes, among seven items, before the trust is created | C |
| Dominican Republic trust law | The letter can be kept private and needs no registration. The deed is recorded at the Mercantile Registry, and binds third parties only once recorded | A |
| Brazil, Law 14.754 | The law names the letter of wishes next to the deed. It asked settlors and beneficiaries who knew of a trust to amend the deed or the letter within 180 days, so the trustee would be bound to comply with the Brazilian rules | A |
| A German court case, 2024 | A Guernsey trust of 1997. Trustees who followed the founders' wishes did not show that the founders held control. Where the settlor keeps a free power to revoke, instruct or take back, the assets stay in the estate | B |
Taken together, the sources describe two kinds of paper. The deed is the recorded one, and it binds third parties. The letter sits beside it, and it can stay private. That is the line between them: a letter is not recorded the way a deed is.
What a letter can say
A US law firm explains the usual needs test in trusts, called health, education, maintenance and support, with a car. Replacing an old Honda fits. A Rolls Royce probably does not. The firm says the test keeps a family at its existing standard of living and does not raise it.
A family that wants more than a needs test needs words for it. A home, a school, travel, or a monthly amount for each branch of the family are all examples. The words can go in the deed. They can also go in a letter beside it.
Where wishes meet a court or a tax office
Two features in the table matter here. The first is the recorded deed. A court asked to change an irrevocable trust is reluctant to override the settlor's wishes, and the process can be costly and public (a law firm's 2025 note, tier B). The wishes that sit in the deed are the ones a court is reluctant to override.
The second is the German case. The German tax rule asks whether the settlor kept a power to instruct the trustee. A letter is one place where a settlor could be heard to instruct. The case does not say how a particular letter would be read.
Who a letter touches
The trustee reads it first. A successor trustee may read it next, years later and perhaps in another country. The heirs may read it or may not, depending on what the family decides.
You could
You could write the letter in two parts. One part could say what you hope the trust will do. The other could say what you do not want it to do. You could ask where the letter will be kept and who gets a copy. You could also review it every few years with the trustee.
Have you written a letter of wishes, or received one? Tell us what the paper looked like and how the trustee used it. Someone starting from a blank page may find it useful.
Figures are estimates for planning, based on public data. Date read: October 2026.
Sources
- Trident Trust South Dakota quick trust guide, 2014 (C)
- Dominican Republic Law 189-11 trust provisions (A)
- Brazil Law 14.754 articles 10 to 12 (A)
- PwC Germany on the Schleswig-Holstein tax court decision, 2024 (B)
- Ballard Spahr on the health, education, maintenance and support standard, 2025 (C)
- ArentFox Schiff on trust modification options, 2025 (B)
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