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Simplifying the process

You know that building wealth is only one part of your wealth story. You are also focused on using these funds to support your family, enjoy the fruits of your labor, and take care of the next generation.

When you establish a trust, you want to know that your money will be preserved, managed, and eventually transferred in a way that will support your goals for every dimension of your wealth.

At First Western Trust, our trust and wealth management teams are held to a fiduciary standard, which means that we are committed to ensuring that your wishes are carried out and that your loved ones are taken care of to the best of our ability.

 

Our Fiduciary Wealth Management Approach

Our trust wealth management team looks at every aspect of your wealth story. We’ll review your retirement planning objectives and provide advice to support you and your family when you’re ready to enjoy your years of hard work.

By reviewing your income and financial balance sheet, our fiduciary wealth management team can provide advice on income and estate tax strategies, methods to fund the educational needs of your children and grandchildren, evaluation of existing life insurance policies, and investment strategies suited to your lifestyle and resources.

If you have started and still own your own business, our trust wealth management services can be structured to help you decide on a business succession strategy and a plan for it to take effect during your lifetime or after your passing.

Why Engage a Corporate Fiduciary? 

It is common to name family members or close friends to serve as the trustee of a trust or as a personal representative of an estate. These people typically have a personal relationship with the beneficiaries and understand their needs. Also, some trust makers are concerned that a corporate trustee may immediately liquidate family businesses or other unconventional assets, such as real estate, art, and mineral interests, that exist in the trust, when maintaining these assets is important to the family. By choosing a family member to manage their trust and wealth management services, trust makers feel confident that these assets will remain in their family’s possession.

Unfortunately, most family trustees do not have the experience, time or investment background to manage the increasingly complicated tax and administrative duties associated with modern trusts. When they are put in charge of trust wealth management decisions, they are often not equipped to handle them appropriately.

Also, since family trustees are typically not subject to court supervision, intentional and unintentional abuses often occur. These might include such things as “borrowing” from the trust for personal uses, taking unusually large trustee fees, investing in risky ventures, and favoring certain beneficiaries in making discretionary trust distributions.

Feel Confident in your Corporate Trust and Wealth Management Services

A corporate trustee, like First Western Trust, has checks and balances to avoid the pitfalls often associated with an individual trustee. We are subject to internal audits and audits by federal and state authorities, which means that our trust and wealth management services are held to a higher standard. Through our fiduciary wealth management approach, we stay focused on preserving the trust assets with an emphasis on maintaining the trust for current and future beneficiaries.

For some families, combining an individual trustee with a corporate trustee may be the best solution. Acting together, the individual trustee can bring the knowledge of their personal relationships with the family members while the corporate trustee can provide the safeguards needed for making sound investment and administrative decisions.

At First Western Trust, we always welcome and encourage providing authority for the beneficiaries to remove any acting corporate trustee and replace them with a substitute corporate trustee. This gives the beneficiaries or another designated individual the ability to terminate a fiduciary relationship that has become unworkable.

Your Family, Our Trust Services

Our trust management advisors are committed to helping your family by:

• Serving as your independent professional corporate trustee

•Providing fiduciary management services

• Managing and reviewing your investments

• Reviewing your family estate plan in conjunction with your attorney and accountant

• Preparing tax returns and accounting for trusts and estates

• Serving as executor or personal representative in a probate appointment

• Providing Conservatorship and Guardianship services for minor and disabled beneficiaries

• Managing specialty assets, such as oil and gas, real estate, farm and ranch properties, and art collections

• Providing custody of assets and accounting for private trustees

• Planning for business succession

If you are establishing a trust, we invite you to meet with our trust and wealth management teams to discuss your families’ needs and see if our services may be a good fit for you. Fill out the form below or call us at 303.531.8100 to speak with one of our fiduciary wealth management experts. 

 

Investment and insurance products and services are not a deposit, are not FDIC- insured, are not insured by any federal government agency, are not guaranteed by the bank and may go down in value. First Western Trust cannot provide tax advice. Please consult your tax advisor for guidance on how the information contained within may apply to your specific situation.