America’s Most Advisor-Friendly Trust Companies Showcase - Flipbook - Page 11
2026 ADVISOR-FRIENDLY TRUST COMPANIES
seen as the parent’s money manager,
another heirloom for the heirs to
deliberate over and ultimately set aside.
Research consistently shows that most
heirs fire the grantor’s advisor regardless
of how strong that relationship was.
Trusts, by definition, don’t die with the
original client. Assets held in trust can
theoretically remain with the original
advisor for decades beyond the
generational transfer. All it requires is the
right language in the documents, and
you have a structural claim on the next
generation’s relationship before anyone
else even has a conversation with them.
The time to have that conversation
and put the paperwork in place is
before your clients die or become
incapacitated. With the right advisorfriendly trust partner, you can remain
the family’s trusted advisor across
generations, managing trust assets on
your custodial platform of choice, in
either a directed or delegated capacity.
In both structures, the critical protection
is the same: you cannot simply be
removed by the grantor’s heirs. You
can’t be fired.
The consolidation pressures that have
long shaped this industry will only
intensify as the transfer accelerates.
Strategic players will look to scale.
Some companies profiled in this guide
will be buyers. Others will receive
offers too compelling to decline. The
weaker players will disappear, and
their accounts will move to more
capable hands.
PICKING A PARTNER
Advisors who can recommend the
right trust solutions have a meaningful
competitive edge over those who have
decided this isn’t their area. Your best
clients want to integrate trusts into
their planning. If you can’t support
that, you’re not part of their long-term
strategy. They’ll find someone who
is, and when they’re gone, their heirs
will drift toward whoever built the
relationship while you were waiting.
The trust industry’s historical reputation
among advisors is not good, and
for understandable reasons. Many
established names have used trust
relationships to prospect additional
assets away from families and ultimately
from their advisors. That’s why this
guide focuses exclusively on companies
that have taken a different path: no inhouse wealth management operation,
no proprietary products to push, no
incentive to displace the advisor who
made the introduction.
These companies are content to
administer the trusts and let the
advisors who built the accounts
continue running the money. They are
dynamic, flexible, and built for a future
that the institutional dinosaurs are still
trying to understand.
CLIENT EDUCATION NEEDED
61%
47%
Only 61% of respondents
were confident that estate
plans contain documents
for before you die.
Only 47% of respondents
knew that a Last Will
and Testament must go
through probate court.
Source: Envestnet
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38%
Only 38% of
respondents knew the
correct definition of a
Living Trust.
