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Questions to Ask a Trustee Before You Sign

The question for the trustee is whether the deed you have in mind will be accepted as written.

By Neil Solomon · 4 min read

Imagine you are sitting across a desk from a trust officer. A fee sheet lies between you. The pages look alike from one trustee to the next, and the differences sit in the small print. What do you ask?

Here are six questions, each tied to something a trustee, a regulator or a court has put in writing.

1. The extras, and the cost of leaving

A percentage and a minimum are only the start. One US bank trustee's 2026 schedule (tier C) charges 0.65% on the first US$1 million of a delegated personal trust, falling to 0.48%, with a US$6,000 minimum. Its list of extras is long:

Stonehage Fleming's US schedule for 2026 (tier C) lists US$7,750 to close a trust and US$2,750 per tax filing. A Jersey trustee (tier C) lists GBP 4,913 to exit.

2. The smallest trust they take

A Morgan Stanley list of partner trust companies shows minimum accounts from US$500,000 to US$3 million at most, and one at US$50 million (tier C). Law firms suggest about US$1 million in total assets for a Cook Islands trust, or US$500,000 in liquid assets.

3. Who holds each role

A trust can have a trustee, an investment adviser, a distribution adviser and a protector. They are not one job. In a US directed trust, the settlor can direct investments but not distributions (tier C). South Dakota law says a trustee who follows an investment adviser's direction is not liable for the loss. Its investment adviser is a fiduciary by default. A protector is not a fiduciary unless the deed says so (tier A).

So you could ask, for each role: who is it, what can that person do, and who answers if it goes wrong?

4. How long until the bank account is open

Timetables are published. A Cook Islands firm (tier C) gives the trustee's checks as one to two weeks, three to four if more papers are asked for, and each follow-up round adds one to two weeks. A complete package saves two to four weeks. It puts a Cook Islands bank account at three to four weeks and a Swiss account at six to eight. Bank accounts are often the slowest step.

Another firm says a Cook Islands trust is working in 30 to 40 days. The two sources differ, so the family could ask for the trustee's own dates in writing.

5. Whether the deed allows an investment adviser

Cook Islands trustees often ask for changes to the deed before they accept, for example where the settlor keeps very wide powers (tier C). They read the deed against local law and their own policies, and raise anything they think is a problem. South Dakota law lets an investment trust advisor direct buying, selling, lending and pledging (tier A). The question for the trustee is whether the deed you have in mind will be accepted as written.

6. If the trustee is sold or merged

Pennsylvania courts have removed corporate trustees after changes. One removed a bank as co-trustee after mergers, a new call-centre service model and sales targets for the trust department (tier B, 2019). Another said about six bank mergers over 40 years, a beneficiary's move and worse service were enough (tier B, 2013).

Removal is one route. Other ways to change an irrevocable trust include a settlement agreement among the parties, a court modification, reformation, or a protector's power written into the deed. About 42 US states had decanting laws by September 2025 (tier B).

Who it touches

Your children, who may deal with this trustee for decades. A spouse or partner who needs to know who to call. An adviser who must be named in the deed, and a protector who may one day replace the trustee.

If you have sat across that desk, which question did you wish you had asked first? Share it here. Someone else is about to sit down.

Figures are estimates for planning, based on public data. Date read: October 2026.