Technical article
When the Bank Changes Hands: The Cases Where a Corporate Trustee Was Removed
Six mergers in 40 years is one bank's history, and the court treated it as a reason along with the move and the service.
Imagine a family that named a bank as trustee of a trust for their grandchildren. Years later the bank merges with another, and then another. The family never chose the new owner. This is a made-up example, and it is also the pattern in two court files.
The question behind this article is plain. What can go wrong with a bank as trustee?
The two cases
Both come from Pennsylvania. Neither tells us how often banks are removed. They show what a court looked at when someone asked.
| Warriner Trusts | In re McKinney (2013) | |
|---|---|---|
| Court | Orphans' Court, Susquehanna County | Superior Court of Pennsylvania |
| Trustee | Wells Fargo, as co-trustee | A bank trustee over about 40 years |
| What changed | Mergers, a new call-centre service model, sales targets for the trust department | About six bank mergers, a beneficiary who moved away, worse service |
| Outcome | Removed, no fault needed under a state rule. Philadelphia Trust Company named as successor | Removal held to be enough. The lower court had refused it and charged the beneficiaries' trusts for the bank's legal fees. The higher court reversed and sent the case back |
A trade-press article on the first case appeared on 31 May 2019. The second is reported in a case brief.
What a reader may take from it
In the first case the court used a rule that lets it remove a trustee without finding fault. That matters for families. Nobody had to prove the bank did something wrong. The mergers, the new service model and the sales targets were the facts in front of the court.
In the second case the length of time did the work. A trust that lasts decades may outlast the bank that was named in it. Six mergers in 40 years is one bank's history, and the court treated it as a reason along with the move and the service. For a family naming a trustee today, that is a long time to rely on one name. Your grandchildren may deal with the successor of the successor.
The second case also shows a cost. The beneficiaries' trusts were charged for the bank's legal fees at the first stage, until the higher court reversed. A removal fight can be expensive for the people it is meant to help.
Who this touches
Beneficiaries are touched most, since a trust serves them. In the second case a beneficiary moving away was one of the facts the court counted.
Your papers touch it too. The trust deed decides who may remove a trustee and who picks the next one. A court is the slow route.
The objection
You might say two cases in one state prove very little. That is true. They do not say how common removal is, and they do not say other banks behave this way. We read them as a description of one thing that can happen, not as a verdict on banks.
A few doors
You could ask a bank who owns it today and what happens to the trust account if it is sold. You could ask how many people handle a trust account, whether service comes through a call centre, and whether the trust department carries sales targets, since those were the facts in the first case. You could ask whether your deed lets beneficiaries replace a corporate trustee, and who may name the next one. You could ask your state whether it has a no-fault removal rule like the one used here.
If your family has been through a bank merger on a trust, what changed for you? Share it here, and someone may benefit from your story.
Figures are estimates for planning, based on public data. Date read: October 2026.
Sources
- WealthManagement.com, "Wells Fargo successfully removed as corporate co-trustee," 31 May 2019 (B)
- lexplug.com case brief, In re McKinney, 67 A.3d 824 (Pa. Super. 2013) (B)
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