Technical article

Reading a Trustee Fee Schedule: Percentages, Minimums and Per-line-item Charges

The South Dakota trustee lists US$1,000 per line item on top of its rate.

By Neil Solomon · 3 min read

Imagine a family with US$500,000 to put in a trust. They open a bank's fee sheet and see "0.65%" at the top. They do the sum and expect a bill of about US$3,250 a year.

Look at the line below the rates. The same schedule says "minimum US$6,000." The minimum is the fee they pay.

Here are five published schedules. Each is a price sheet from a trustee, which is tier C, and their dates differ.

Above US$5 million, Advisor Trust Services lists its fees as negotiable. First National Bank Alaska shows 0.95% or 1.25% on the first US$1 million with a US$5,000 minimum, in a 2022 schedule. The page shows both rates without saying which applies.

Three terms carry the weight.

A delegated trust means the trustee also runs the investments. A directed trust means an outside adviser does, and the trustee holds title. The directed fee is lower because an outside adviser runs the investments. The bank has no duty to watch the adviser, and the adviser's own fee is billed separately.

The minimum is the least the trustee charges a year, whatever the size of the trust. At US$500,000 a 0.65% rate comes to US$3,250, so the US$6,000 minimum rules. That is 1.20% of the trust. The directed minimum of US$5,000 is 1.00%. At US$2 million the tiers produce US$11,800, or about 0.59%, and the percentage matters. The sums are arithmetic from the published rates, not quotes.

A per-line-item charge is a fee on each holding. The South Dakota trustee lists US$1,000 per line item on top of its rate. A trust with a few funds costs less than one with a dozen holdings.

Stonehage Fleming's schedule has no tiers at all. Its US$10,250 yearly minimum is set by complexity and risk, and the schedule lists US$5,250 to settle a trust, US$7,750 to exit and US$2,750 for each tax filing.

You might say: "Fee sheets are marketing. Nobody pays the printed price." There is some truth in that, since the schedules say a fee can be negotiable at larger sizes. At US$500,000 the sheets give no sign of a discount, and the fund costs inside the investments are charged on top of any trustee fee.

You could ask three questions of any schedule: what is the minimum, what counts as a line item, and which services are billed by the hour. You could also set the minimum against the size of your trust before you look at the percentage.

This touches family. A minimum is charged every year the trust is open.

If you have read a trustee schedule, which line surprised you? Share it here. Someone reading their first schedule may find it helpful.

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