User guide & privacy

Getting started

Trust Wizard is local-first. Everything you enter is stored on your device, in the app's own storage. There is no account to create and nothing is uploaded.

First steps

1. Add your policies. On the Dashboard, link each policy the trust owns: carrier, policy number, cash value, death benefit and loan rate.
2. Set your trust's details. In Documents, enter the trust's formal name and EIN once. Every template fills them in for you.
3. Allow the camera if you want to scan. Trust Wizard asks for camera access only to scan documents into your vault. Scans stay on your device.

Policies & projections

The Dashboard tracks every policy your trust owns and charts how its values could develop.

Managing policies

• Link a policy: enter the carrier, policy number and current values (cash value, death benefit, loan rate).
• The trust ledger: every policy has a ledger. Log premium payments and each annual statement true-up so the charts start from real figures.
• Projection charts: the Dashboard shows illustrative cash value and death benefit over time, starting from your latest statement.

Projections are illustrations, never a guarantee of policy performance. Your insurer's in-force illustration is the authoritative source.

Document Wizard

Draft the paperwork a trust runs on, then keep the signed copies in your private vault.

Templates

Fill-in templates for ten trust types (ILIT, SLAT, Dynasty, DAPT, MAPT, Special Needs, Spendthrift, GRAT, QPRT and a Deferred Sales Trust agreement), plus supporting documents such as a Certification of Trust. A Certification of Trust lets you prove the trust exists to a bank without sharing your beneficiaries or assets. Preview the full document before you print it for your attorney.

Your state's forms

In Documents, choose Load State Templates and enter your state to add the forms it requires to your vault.

Scanning signed copies

Use your device's camera to scan signed instruments, amendments or notarized pages into the vault. They are stored on your device and never uploaded.

Templates are a starting point to review with a licensed attorney in your state, not a finished legal document.

Trust Equity Simulator

Model borrowing against your policies' cash value before you do it.

• Scenarios: set a loan amount, rate and repayment term and see the payment and total interest.
• Repayment schedule: month-by-month principal, interest and balance.
• Scenario report: choose Generate Scenario Report for a printable summary for your records.

Compliance tracker

A trustee has yearly duties. The tracker on the Dashboard shows each one and when it was last done.

• Crummey notices: generate a formatted withdrawal notice for each gift, with a 30-, 45- or 60-day window and optional 5-and-5 language.
• Annual trustee meeting: a reminder to hold and record your annual review.
• State entity fees: a reminder for annual filings, such as LLC fees, that keep an entity in good standing.

Mark a task done to log the date; the tracker shows what is up to date and what is overdue.

Enlightenment Hub

Plain-English lessons on trust types and funding strategies.

• Deep dives: each module has a deeper section with curated resources and vetted external links.
• Linked tools: templates link to the matching lesson, and some lessons link to the app's calculators.

Backups

Your records live only on your device, so a backup is the only copy anywhere else. Make one regularly; the backup screen shows when you last made one.

Making a backup

1. In Documents, choose Backup (on a phone it's under Advanced).
2. Choose a passphrase and choose Encrypt & Save Backup. Trust Wizard saves one encrypted .twbackup file with your policies, documents, scans and compliance tasks.
3. Store the file somewhere separate and safe, and keep the passphrase somewhere else. Without the passphrase the backup cannot be opened, by you or anyone.

Restoring

On the new device, open Documents, choose Restore, pick the .twbackup file and enter its passphrase. Restoring replaces the policies, documents and compliance tasks on that device.

Successor handoff

Give your successor trustee everything they need to take over, without a subscription or a shared account.

Creating the successor file

1. In Documents, choose Successor Hash Key (on a phone it's under Advanced).
2. Choose a passphrase. Trust Wizard encrypts your trust record into one .twsuccessor file.
3. Give your successor the file, and give them the passphrase separately, in person or by phone. They need both.

Opening it as the successor

Your successor opens Trust Wizard, chooses Connect as Successor on the Dashboard, opens the file and enters the passphrase. They can review the record and then choose Take Over as Trust Manager to load it into their app.