Trust Administration
Products & Services
Trust Services for Today’s Needs
Flexible and functional—that’s the way we might characterize today’s trust services. Come in soon and explore with us the many ways in which we may serve you and your family. A description of our specific Trust Administration Services is listed below.
Testamentary Trustee
The will that names us as executor often provides for the long-term management of funds in trust—a testamentary trust.
Today’s testamentary trust almost always is created with the needs of one’s immediate family in mind. It features flexible provisions for their full-time support and protection. Also, significant tax savings often can be achieved.
As trustee, it is our task to keep the trust principal safely and productively invested and to pay income to the named beneficiaries. Usually, to afford maximum family protection against unforeseen needs and contingencies, trust provisions direct us to exercise our judgment to pay trust principal to the beneficiaries whenever income alone is insufficient.
Trusts save taxes by avoiding successive estate taxation of the same property as it is transferred from on family member to another. A husband’s will, for example, may create one or more trusts that will pass untaxed in the estates of his wife and perhaps his children. And such trusts may also lighten the income tax load on a family by shifting the receipt of income to those in lower tax brackets.
The long-range management of invested funds presents a real challenge for today’s trustee. Our experienced trust investment staff brings a professional outlook and mature judgment to the selection of securities best fitted to the objectives of a trust and to the financial needs of its beneficiaries.
Trustee of Living Trusts
Many property owners today seek investment supervision for their own securities during life. They create living trusts, similar to the testamentary trusts we’ve just described, in order to obtain the benefits of our professional investment management.
Named as trustee under a trust agreement, we take possession of securities, keep them safe in our vaults and perform all the troublesome paperwork.
Income is paid regularly to the trust’s creator or to whomever he or she selects to receive it. 
And the trust’s investments are under the continual supervision of our investment officers. These capable specialists will recommend desirable changes in keeping with the trust-maker's personal investment goals—capital appreciation, let’s say, or perhaps the building of a fund that provides substantial current income.
Many turn to the living trust when they are apprehensive of physical or mental disability in their later years. In the event of incapacity, such a trust can pay bills and protect property without the intervention of a court-appointed guardian.
The living trust, moreover, may survive its maker and go on to furnish continuing financial security for a family. All the tax saving benefits available with testamentary trusts may also be obtained through use of a living trust, and because the assets of a living trust usually avoid probate, the expenses of administering the trust-maker’s estate may be significantly reduced.
Most living trusts today are revocable, meaning they may be amended or even terminated at any time during life. This flexibility permits the trust-maker to observe how the trust functions to meet his or her needs—and the future needs of his or her family—and then to make changes accordingly.
Agent for Investors
In all of the services thus far described, we act under the terms of a will or trust agreement planned in consultation with your attorney.
But we offer added services to investors and property owners—services in which we act as agent rather than as trustee. Formalities are at a minimum, and the arrangement may be terminated at any time.
- Our Investment Management Service, for example, provides full, personalized portfolio supervision.
It begins with the signing of a simple agreement and the acceptance of securities (or funds available for investment) into an account.
After a frank and confidential discussion of the customer’s investment objectives, our investment officers perform a complete portfolio analysis and determine what steps are required to conform to the customer’s specific goals and risk tolerance.
Thereafter, we provide continuing management, acting whenever we believe action is needed. Investment Management customers receive comprehensive reports and are encouraged to meet with us to discuss the progress of their accounts as well as any changes in their goals and requirements.
- Our Investment Advisory Service is designed specifically for today’s busy, part-time investors. It is similar to our Investment Management Service. We give advice and guidance to customers, but the customer approves all investment changes in advance.
- Our Custody Service is specially designed to take the pain out of paperwork. Here, we do not offer investment advice or recommendations. But just as in any other trust or agency relationship, we perform all the time-consuming administrative chores involved in owning securities.
Coupons are clipped. Dividends are deposited. The proceeds are remitted as an owner directs. We immediately notify the customer of any events that may affect his or her holdings. Detailed statements of all transactions in the account are furnished periodically. These can be invaluable when an investor begins preparing tax returns.
Call 810-966-8710 to speak with one of our Trust Officers today!