The world lost the rhinestone legend, Dolly Parton, on August 25, 2026, at age 80. From Jolene and 9 to 5 to I Will Always Love You, Dolly’s music became part of the American soundtrack. But her legacy was never limited to music. She built businesses, owned valuable intellectual property, supported generations of children through the Imagination Library, and maintained unusually deep ties to her home state of Tennessee.
We do not know the many details of Dolly Parton’s estate plan. Her life does, however, illustrate a question that matters for many high-net-worth families:
Where should your trust live?
For a family with complex assets, charitable goals, a long-term horizon, and a desire to retain thoughtful control, the answer can be more consequential than it first appears. Tennessee is more than sentimental ground. It has become one of the country’s more sophisticated trust jurisdictions.
A Coat of Many Colors Requires More Than a Basic Trust
Dolly’s financial life was likely anything but simple. Song copyrights, publishing rights, business interests, real estate, charitable commitments, licensing arrangements, and the Dollywood enterprise represent very different types of assets.
A traditional trust structure can certainly hold wealth. The more important question is whether the trust law governing that structure is flexible enough to manage a variety of assets for decades, or potentially generations.
Why Does a Trust’s State Matter?
The state governing a trust—often called its situs—can affect how the trust is administered, taxed, modified, and protected over time. It can also influence who has authority to make investment, distribution, and governance decisions.
That does not mean every family should move a trust to Tennessee. It does mean the decision should be intentional.
For someone with a financial life as varied as Dolly’s, the assets could include song copyrights, publishing rights, business interests, real estate, charitable commitments, licensing arrangements, and the Dollywood enterprise. Those are very different types of assets, and they may not all benefit from the same kind of oversight.
Tennessee Allows a Trust to Divide Responsibilities Thoughtfully
A traditional trust structure can certainly hold wealth. The more important question is whether the law governing that trust is flexible enough to manage specialized assets for decades, or potentially generations.
Tennessee law recognizes trust advisors and trust protectors, who can be granted powers ranging from investment oversight to changes needed in response to tax-law developments or family circumstances. That can allow one fiduciary to handle administration while another person or institution manages investments, closely held businesses, intellectual property, or other specialized assets.
For families whose wealth requires more than a one-size-fits-all approach, that separation of responsibilities can be valuable.
It may allow a corporate trustee to focus on administration and fiduciary recordkeeping, while a trusted advisor, family member, or investment professional has a more defined role in areas where they have particular expertise. Of course, the authority has to be drafted carefully. Clear roles are generally better than overlapping responsibilities and assumptions.
How Long Can a Tennessee Trust Last?
Tennessee allows many trusts to continue for up to 360 years. That creates planning possibilities extending far beyond children and grandchildren.
A properly structured multigenerational trust can potentially protect assets, establish family governance, preserve family enterprises, and give future generations access to capital without requiring the family fortune to be distributed outright at every generation.
For an individual whose copyrights, brand, or business interests may continue generating value after death, longevity is particularly meaningful. Intellectual property does not necessarily disappear when its creator does. Neither does a family business, charitable mission, or carefully cultivated brand.
The difference is between leaving an inheritance and creating an institution designed to endure.
Tennessee Trust Taxes: An Advantage, but Not the Whole Story
Tennessee has no individual income tax. Its former Hall tax on interest and dividend income was fully repealed beginning in 2021, and Tennessee inheritance tax no longer applies to estates of individuals who died in 2016 or later.
For certain trusts, particularly those with beneficiaries or trustees in multiple states, choosing a trust’s situs can materially affect state income taxation. That is worth evaluating, but it should not be the only consideration.
Moving a trust to Tennessee does not automatically make every state-tax issue disappear. A trust’s taxation can depend on the residence of the grantor, beneficiaries, and trustees; where assets or businesses are located; the trust’s terms; and the taxing rules of the states involved.
The better question is whether Tennessee improves the entire structure: tax efficiency, governance, flexibility, asset protection, administration, and long-term family objectives.
Control Without Trying to Control Everything
This is the real decision hiding underneath trust planning: how much control should the wealth creator retain, and how much should be delegated?
Entrepreneurs and creators often struggle with this. They spent decades building something through judgment, instinct, and personal involvement. Giving someone else authority over those assets can feel uncomfortable.
Tennessee law provides considerable room to divide responsibilities. Its statutes contemplate settlors and beneficiaries serving in various fiduciary or managerial capacities and provide protections against automatically treating certain retained roles as proof that a settlor exercises improper dominion and control over an irrevocable trust.
That does not mean a family can simply have it both ways. Tax law, creditor law, fiduciary duties, and the specific drafting of the trust still matter enormously.
Sophisticated planning is about deciding which decisions the family should continue making, which belong with an independent trustee, and where professional oversight adds real value.
Protecting More Than Money
Dolly Parton’s legacy offers another lesson: some estates are primarily financial, while others carry a purpose.
The Imagination Library, launched in East Tennessee and ultimately expanded around the world, reflects something different from simply leaving money to heirs. It represents values Dolly wanted to continue beyond herself.
Tennessee law recognizes charitable trusts and provides a framework for courts to preserve charitable intent when an original charitable purpose becomes impossible or impracticable.
For families with meaningful philanthropic goals, the question is not simply, “How much should we give?” It is, “What do we want this wealth to keep doing after we are gone?”
That may involve a private foundation, donor-advised fund, charitable trust, operating charity, or some combination. Done well, philanthropy becomes an active part of the family’s legacy rather than an instruction buried on page 47 of an estate document.
Should Everyone Move Their Trust to Tennessee?
No.
Tennessee competes with jurisdictions such as South Dakota, Nevada, Delaware, and others that have deliberately developed sophisticated trust laws.
A California family with concentrated stock may have different priorities from a Florida business owner. A family focused primarily on creditor protection may reach a different conclusion than one focused on multigenerational governance. A client with an existing irrevocable trust may have different options from someone creating a new trust today.
What Dolly’s Legacy Can Teach the Rest of Us
Most families will never own a theme park, a catalog of internationally recognized songs, or a pair of rhinestone-studded assets requiring their own valuation expert.
But the planning questions are remarkably similar:
- What should remain in the family?
- What should be protected?
- Who should make decisions when you cannot?
- How much flexibility should future generations have?
- What causes should your wealth continue supporting?
- What legal jurisdiction gives the plan the best chance of working the way you intended?
Those questions deserve more attention than simply naming beneficiaries and signing documents.
A thoughtfully designed trust is ultimately not about control from the grave. It is about giving the people and causes you care about the structure, flexibility, and stewardship they will need when you are no longer there to provide it yourself.
And when that structure truly reflects the person who created it, perhaps the best measure of success is also the simplest:
I Will Always Love You.
Mission Wealth is a Registered Investment Adviser. This commentary reflects the personal opinions, viewpoints, and analyses of the Mission Wealth employees providing such comments. It should not be regarded as a description of advisory services provided by Mission Wealth or performance returns of any Mission Wealth client. The views reflected in the commentary are subject to change at any time without notice. Nothing in this commentary constitutes investment advice, performance data, or any recommendation that any particular security, portfolio of securities, transaction, or investment strategy is suitable for any specific person. Any mention of a particular security and related performance data is not a recommendation to buy or sell that security. Mission Wealth manages its clients’ accounts using a variety of investment techniques and strategies, which are not necessarily discussed in the commentary. Investments in securities involve the risk of loss. Past performance is no guarantee of future results.
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