America’s Most Advisor-Friendly Trust Companies Showcase - Flipbook - Page 10
2026 ADVISOR-FRIENDLY TRUST COMPANIES
sophisticated algorithm can approximate
market exposure at a fraction of the cost
of active management. Trust services
create something fundamentally different:
a deeper, value-added relationship built
around long-term structure rather than
short-term returns. Assets held in trust
can remain in place across multiple
generations, keeping fees flowing and
relationships intact for decades. That’s
precisely why banks and large institutions
have always coveted these assets.
Only a minority of advisors have built
the network of relationships necessary
to help clients move wealth into trusts
effectively. It takes time and care to
find the right partner, and settling on
the wrong one carries a high cost.
Most traditional trust organizations
are affiliated with banks or asset
management firms that want to take
over investment management. Many
funnel assets into proprietary products.
Others exploit access to your best
clients to prospect a larger share of
overall household assets.
The good news is that dozens of
trust companies, including many
affiliated with financial institutions, have
developed models nimble and efficient
enough to work genuinely cooperatively
with advisors. They’re content to earn
their fee from administration, fiduciary
services, and specialized functions, and
to leave the way assets are managed
entirely to the advisors who introduced
the accounts.
DEATH AND TAXES ARE ETERNAL
Despite periodic outrage in the financial
press, Congress has done nothing to
weaken the proposition for moving
wealth into trusts. Existing advantages
remain intact, and in many cases the
planning opportunity has expanded.
Designated
Beneficiaries
Charitable
Designations
Last Will and
Testament
Trust
Critical
Elements
of an Estate
Plan
Health Care
Proxy
The loss of state and local tax
deductibility remains a pressure point
for clients in high-tax jurisdictions with
assets generating significant income.
The logical response is to shift those
assets into an out-of-state trust in a
jurisdiction that doesn’t tax nonresident
capital gains. Nevada and South
Dakota have made this arbitrage into a
substantial business, with cross-border
trust activity drawing assets from hightax states on a consistent basis.
The tax framework preserves all the
existing advantages of holding wealth
in trust rather than personally. Passthrough businesses held in trust get
the same treatment as those held
individually, closing a disparity that
briefly created uncertainty. For clients
who intend to sell and want to minimize
10
Durable
Power of
Attorney
Health Care
Directive
capital gains liability, a trust domiciled
in a low-tax state remains the cleanest
available path.
THE LARGEST WEALTH
TRANSFER IN HISTORY
An estimated $2.5 trillion in inheritances
flows annually today, a figure projected
to exceed $3 trillion by 2030 as the
oldest Baby Boomers reach their
eighties. The demographic pressure
is no longer hypothetical. It is already
arriving, in volume, every single day.
When a client dies, the advisor has a
window to retain the account. But the
relationship built over years or decades
evaporates at the moment of transfer.
Unless the work has been done to
extend that relationship to the next
generation, the advisor will always be
