America’s Most Advisor-Friendly Trust Companies Showcase - Flipbook - Page 17
2026 ADVISOR-FRIENDLY TRUST COMPANIES
if the grantor or beneficiaries reside in
another state, a structure sometimes
referred to as an SD-ING, or Incomplete
Non-Grantor Trust domiciled in South
Dakota. Similar structures exist for
Delaware, Nevada, and Alaska. The
mechanics differ by state and the
planning must be executed carefully,
but the potential savings for clients
with large income-producing trusts are
substantial.
Delaware actually fell four places in the
2026 State Tax Competitiveness Index
as other states implemented substantial
reforms while Delaware largely stood
still, hampered by being one of only
two states to impose both income
taxes and a state-level gross receipts
tax. This matters less for trust planning
than for business siting decisions,
since Delaware’s trust law advantages
operate somewhat independently
of its broader tax environment. But
it is a reminder that no jurisdiction’s
advantages are permanent, and regular
review of where existing trusts are
domiciled remains a sound practice.
A STRONG PLATFORM
The integration of trust administration
and investment management
technology has accelerated
dramatically. A new generation
of platforms now connects trust
accounting and investment
management in ways that were not
practically available even a few years
ago, allowing advisors and trust officers
to work from the same real-time picture
simultaneously rather than reconciling
data manually after the fact.
AI can now interpret trust documents
with professional-level accuracy,
answering questions about
beneficiaries, distribution standards,
and trustee discretion in a fraction
of the time it once took. Platforms
like Axiom Trust are building entirely
AI-native administration workflows,
pairing regulated fiduciary services with
automated document parsing, data
normalization, and structured approval
trails for high-stakes distribution
decisions.
Wealth.com’s proprietary AI engine
processed over 100,000 estate
documents in 2025, and the company
recently raised $65 million in a Series B
round to expand its integrated estate
and tax planning platform further.
The pace of investment in this space
reflects the scale of the demographic
opportunity ahead.
The elimination of paper remains
the most operationally significant
change technology has brought to
trust administration. Secure digital
environments, electronic signatures,
and instant document access have
transformed what was once a slow,
paper-heavy process into something
that can move at the speed clients and
heirs now expect.
A STRONG PARTNER
With the right partner, your role is as
a center of influence, not a technical
expert. The trust company handles
the details. All you need to do is start
the conversation: “Are you familiar with
what a trust can do for you?”
Keep things simple. Use the marketing
materials your trust partner provides.
These companies have already invested
in educational content because it drives
their own business, and they have
every incentive to share it with you. Your
success bringing clients to the table is
their success too.
Remember that most advisors are still
reluctant to suggest trusts, even when
it’s clearly in the client’s best long-term
interest. Fewer than 10% of advisors
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work with trusts. Letting your clients
know you’re in that top decile is itself a
differentiating statement, provided you
actually say it.
Your Approach to
Location Is Everything
The state-level estate planning
landscape rewards proactive advisors
and penalizes passive ones. The gap
between the best trust jurisdiction
and the worst is not marginal. It is
the difference between a trust that
endures indefinitely, grows tax-free,
protects assets from creditors and
litigation, and keeps the advisor
in the picture for generations, and
one that expires in the grantor’s
grandchildren’s lifetimes, generates
state income tax drag every year, and
offers little protection when a family
member faces a lawsuit or a divorce.
For any client with a meaningful
irrevocable trust, the right questions
to ask are: Where is this trust
domiciled and why? Is the governing
state’s law still favorable relative to
available alternatives? Is the trust’s
situs creating income tax exposure
that could be legally reduced? Does
the trust document give the trustee
sufficient flexibility to respond to
changing circumstances, and if not, is
decanting available?
These are not obscure technical
questions. They are the practical
expression of the advisor’s responsibility
to think beyond the current moment and
manage the full life cycle of a family’s
wealth. The families that will be best
served in the decades ahead are the
ones whose advisors are asking these
questions now, before the answers
become urgent.
