Schwab Personal Trust Services.

As your corporate trustee, offered through Charles Schwab Trust Company (CSTC), Schwab Personal Trust Services provides the expertise, dedicated relationships, investment management, administration services, and flexibility you need to help protect and manage your legacy.

Why a corporate trustee?

We are committed to providing dedicated, ongoing trust administration that upholds your wishes for the future. Working with a corporate trustee like Charles Schwab Trust Company can give you:

  • Objectivity. As a fiduciary, we will administer your trust in a professional and impartial manner.
  • Experience. We have the expertise to carry out all duties associated with serving as your trustee, including the investment of trust assets, administration of your trust in accordance with its terms, professional and timely recordkeeping, and preparation and filing of trust income tax returns.
  • Continuity. We can provide seamless, responsive trust administration and trust portfolio management for as long as your trust endures.
  • Favorable trust situs. CSTC administers trusts under Nevada law, providing potential tax and administrative advantages.

Depending on your needs, Charles Schwab Trust Company can serve in three separate trustee capacities:

Sole trustee

Charles Schwab Trust Company (CSTC) assumes the investment, administrative, and fiduciary responsibilities of managing your trust according to the terms defined in your trust document. 

Co-trustee

CSTC acts as a co-trustee with the individual(s) you designate. As a co-trustee, CSTC assumes full investment management and administrative responsibilities for the trust but may share discretionary disbursement decision-making with the co-trustee(s) according to the trust provisions.

Successor trustee 

CSTC steps in once you or the individual you name as sole trustee or co-trustee is no longer willing or able to serve.

Advantages of using Nevada's favorable trust situs include:

Advantages of using Nevada's favorable trust situs include:

  • No Nevada state income tax on trust-retained income and capital gains*
  • Ability for a trustee to administer Dynasty trusts which can last for multiple generations
  • Ability to utilize Nevada Asset Protection Trusts
  • Ability to make certain types of modifications to existing irrevocable trusts without court involvement

* Based upon the circumstances of the trust, trust income may be taxable by other states. Charles Schwab Trust Company and Charles Schwab & Co., Inc. do not provide legal or tax advice. Consult with your legal counsel and tax advisors about your circumstances.

What type of services does CSTC provide?

A team of CSTC Trust Officers and Investment Officers is specifically assigned to your trust, providing trust administration and trust investment management. This team will also serve as a point of contact for your beneficiaries. Your Financial Consultant will continue assisting with your brokerage accounts.

Trust Administration Services

  • Income and principal distributions according to the trust document
  • Preparation and filing of fiduciary federal and state tax returns
  • Accurate and timely accounting, record keeping and reporting

Investment Management Services

  • Professional investment management of your trust assets
  • Portfolio adjustment to meet changing market demands

What are the fees?

View Schwab Personal Trust Services™ fees and information here.

Charles Schwab Trust Company also offers Schwab Wealth Trust Services™ for clients with more complex or unique trust needs, and $10 million plus in assets held at Schwab. View the fees and information here.

Examples of Trusts

Family Transfer/Irrevocable Trusts

  • Marital and Family/Credit Shelter Trusts
  • Qualified Terminable Interest Property (QTIP) Trusts
  • Generation-Skipping Trusts (GST)
  • Qualified Domestic Trusts (QDOT)
  • Testamentary Trusts (trusts created under your Will)

Wealth Protection and Transfer

  • Living Trusts (Revocable Trusts)
  • Irrevocable Life Insurance Trusts (ILIT)
  • Spousal Lifetime Access Trusts (SLAT)
  • Grantor Retained Trusts (GRAT, GRIT, GRUT)
  • Intentionally Defective Grantor Trusts (IDGT)

Charitable Giving

  • Charitable Remainder Trusts (CRAT, CRUT)
  • Charitable Lead Trusts (CLAT, CLUT)

Our investment management philosophy.

CTSC offers sophisticated yet uncomplicated investment solutions tailored to address and meet your beneficiaries' needs and circumstances. Those who choose us as their corporate trustee enjoy the peace of mind of knowing that the organization they've come to trust and rely on will manage their trust assets in a professional and cost-effective manner.

Ready to get started?

To speak with someone about how to name Charles Schwab Trust Company as current or successor trustee to invest and administer your trust, we invite you to contact Schwab Personal Trust Services at 877-862-4304 or SPTS@schwab.com.

Download or print Personal Trust Planning Checklist and Standard Trust Provisions

For questions regarding Schwab's Administrative Trustee Services*, for clients who wish to engage a Registered Investment Advisor, we invite you to contact Charles Schwab Trust Company of Delaware at 800-745-7721 or CSTCD@schwab.com.

Estate planning for financial peace of mind.

A trust is just one part of your estate plan. Schwab can assist you with other aspects of protecting your financial legacy as well.

Trust FAQs.

FAQs

A trust is a legal relationship in which one or more persons or entities (trustees) holds legal title to property and manages it for the benefit of one or more persons or entities (beneficiaries).

A trust can potentially accomplish a wide variety of objectives:

  • Provide continuity in management of trust assets in the event of your incapacity or death.
  • Help your beneficiaries minimize the expense, delay, and publicity of probate.
  • Allow you to create rules for how your assets will be preserved or distributed and to name a trustee to carry out your wishes.
  • Gifting strategies utilizing trusts during lifetime may minimize transfer/estate taxes.
  • Allow for the implementation of charitable giving strategies.

There are many types of trusts available, depending on your and your family's unique needs. Your attorney or estate planner can help you determine which type of trust is the best choice for you; your Financial Consultant can help you establish the trust with CSTC.

Administration services

  • Income and principal distributions according to the trust document
  • Preparation and filing of fiduciary federal and state tax returns
  • Accurate and timely accounting, record keeping, and reporting

Investment services

  • Professional investment management of your trust assets
  • Portfolio adjustment to meet changing market demands
  • Education of beneficiaries on investment resources and financial planning

View Schwab Personal Trust Services™ fees and information here.

Charles Schwab Trust Company also offers Schwab Wealth Trust Services™ for clients with more complex or unique trust needs, and $10 million plus in assets held at Schwab. View the fees and information here.

CSTC will provide you with the language, but we cannot draft or amend your trust. Your estate planning attorney should incorporate CSTC’s required provisions. Your attorney should note that CSTC is a Nevada chartered Trust Company. Our provisions state that while CSTC serves as Trustee, situs and law governing administration will be Nevada, while governing law for the validity and construction of the Trust can remain under the state in which the Trust was drafted.

As part of the process of naming CSTC as Trustee, we request an opportunity to conduct a review of the draft Trust to confirm that the CSTC provisions or any changes thereto are incorporated accordingly, and to ensure that CSTC can execute their fiduciary and legal responsibilities pursuant to the terms of the Trust.

Yes, you can amend your trust at any time to replace CSTC as successor trustee or remove CSTC once we are serving as trustee at any time and for any reason if the parties holding the power to do so no longer wish for CSTC to act.

Yes, CSTC may accept trust assets outside of Schwab. All cash and marketable securities will be held in custody at Schwab, if they are not already, once we begin acting as trustee. For example, CSTC may accept the following types of trust assets:

  • Cash
  • Marketable Securities
  • Life Insurance Policies
  • Annuities
  • Residential Real-Estate (owner occupied, vacation or rental properties 1-4 units)
  • Promissory Notes

Glossary

Grantor

The individual (or individuals) who creates and funds the trust with their accumulated wealth, including financial and real estate assets.

Trustee

The party responsible for the administration and/or investment management of trust assets. A trustee can be:

  • Individual trustee—usually a family member or friend chosen to manage trust assets.
  • Corporate trustee—a bank or trust company, like Charles Schwab Trust Company, that specializes in trust investment management and trust administration.
  • Successor trustee—named to step in and manage the trust when the current trustee is no longer able or willing to continue due to incapacity, death, or resignation.

Probate

This is the court process of distributing assets after death of the grantor. Trusts can help minimize this potentially time-consuming, costly, and public process.

Beneficiary

A recipient of trust asset distributions, such as individuals or charities.

We're here to help with your personal trust.

  • We're here to help with your personal trust.

    If you would like to discuss how Schwab can provide professional trustee services for your personal trust, email us or call 877-862-4304 to speak with a Regional Trust Services Consultant. 

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