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Nicole Lorey
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Transamerica Insurance & Investment Group
(213) 741-5809
Transamerica Insurance & Investment Group Launches TransAbilitySM Special Needs Trust Strategy Center
Life Insurance Professionals Can Now Access One-Stop Shop of Resources Necessary to Support Establishment of Special Needs Trusts
LOS ANGELES – (April 6, 2009) Transamerica Insurance & Investment Group (TIIG) has launched the TransAbilitySM Special Needs Trusts Strategy Center. Dedicated to supporting Special Needs Trusts (SNTs), the Center is designed to provide strategies and resources for financial planners and life insurance professionals with clients who have children or relatives with special needs.
TIIG has also established a strategic alliance with Knights Administration, a national online third party trust administration company that provides automated secure administrative support systems.
"With our new Special Needs Trusts Strategy Center, TransAbilitySM, TIIG can offer producers and financial advisors our consulting expertise and access—through our alliance with Knights Administration—to specific legal, trust and investment resources for all stages of an individual or pooled SNT set-up and maintenance," said Michael Babikian, Senior Vice President, Marketing, for Transamerica Insurance & Investment Group.
In addition, the TransAbilitySM Strategy Center provides producers and advisors with access to a host of multiple resources and support, including TransACT®, a Web site that provides brochures, guides, presentations, continuing education and other marketing materials and tools. SNT-specific resources are also available via a special SNT division of TIIG's open-access Legacy Planning Resource Center. Moreover, individual personalized support can be obtained from dedicated specialists in TIIG's Advanced Marketing Department.
Knights Administration will provide a variety of services including case referrals, placement of the case with the appropriate nonprofit, bank and/or trustee, access to attorneys specializing in SNTs and an online interface. "We're excited that Knights Administration can bring its expertise and network of providers to the life insurance and financial advisor community," said Will Lindahl, chairman of Knights Administration.
SNTs (also known as supplemental care trusts) are individual or pooled trusts created for disabled individuals to supplement, but not replace, any public benefits to which the disabled individual may be entitled. The goal of funding an SNT is to provide a pool of funds from which the disabled individual can maintain the quality of his or her life, while still remaining eligible for public assistance. Life insurance is an excellent vehicle for funding SNTs because it provides guarantees, tax-deferred income, and a death benefit that if properly structured is free of federal income and estate taxes. The death benefit of life insurance is also self-completing – payable at any time the insured passes away, as opposed to other investments which need to appreciate in value over time.
For additional information, contact the TransAbility Special Needs Trusts Strategy Center at (877) 238-6758 from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Pacific Time or via e-mail at specialneeds@transamerica.com.
About Transamerica
Transamerica Insurance & Investment Group, a marketing unit for Transamerica Life Insurance Company (TLIC), offers an array of innovative financial services and products designed to help individuals, families, and businesses build, protect, and preserve their assets. TIIG's Special Needs Trust unit offers life insurance producers and financial planners support and information on special needs trusts for their clients. Products and services offered through TIIG are underwritten by TLIC or its affiliated statutory insurance companies, and include term life insurance, universal life insurance, variable universal life insurance, and fixed annuities. TLIC is an AEGON company. AEGON is an international life insurance, pension and investment group based in The Hague, the Netherlands, with businesses in over twenty markets in the Americas, Europe and Asia.
About Knights Administration
Knights Administration, Inc., a third party administration company, provides an online trust administration interface for individuals and organizations acting as trustee for managed Individual and Pooled Special Needs Trusts. Knights offers a proven Special Needs Trust program model that ensures a program's success. In addition, it offers a trust program infrastructure that allows a charity to establish and manage their trust program without losing control. Knights works with state support counsel to ensure ongoing program safety and compliance with State and Federal laws.
http://www.transamerica.com/legacy/special_needs_trust.aspx
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