Trust Investment Advisor Provisions
Anyone establishing a living trust must always choose a (successor) trustee – usually an older child, or an extended-family relative, or a trusted friend – who will eventually have to administer the trust estate. Trust estate administration of course always includes the responsibility of having to allocate and distribute trust assets, at the death of the grantor, per the directives in the trust.
But often times and for various reasons trust assets must be held in trust for a period of time, sometimes for many years, on behalf of certain beneficiaries who have not yet met the stipulations and/or age minimum(s) required by the trust to receive their portions outright and free of trust. Thus, a problem may arise if the successor trustee does not have the experience, knowledge, or financial sophistication necessary to manage trust assets that must be held by the trust during such interim times.
By utilizing Trust Investment Advisor (TIA) provisions, the trust grantor can appoint a knowledgeable and sophisticated advisor to the successor trustee in order to close the “advisory ability gap” often associated with relatives or friends (being appointed and) serving as trustees. The TIA provisions also enable the grantor’s trusted advisor to essentially manage the entire trust investment base even though a corporate (custodial) trustee may end up serving as trustee. In fact, such an arrangement can often create a well-rounded trust management team.
Because the (successor) trustee can still ultimately remove the TIA from serving in such capacity, the TIA is not imputed with the overall “fiduciary” responsibilities of the trust itself. The TIA is held only to the same responsibilities that were assumed with the grantor/client during the lifetime of the grantor. The TIA performs those responsibilities on behalf of the trust by providing fee-based consulting services and/or commission-based financial products to the trustee and may earn advisory fees/commissions as a result.
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