Continuity and Service
A Corporate Trusteeship Study
The story of this family begins back just before World War II, when the patriarch established a series of irrevocable trusts. Some were intended to benefit the whole family, and others were set up on behalf of the patriarch’s grandchildren. These original 100-year trusts, although now more than seven decades old, still have almost 30 years to run.
Upon the death of the patriarch and his wife, his son and daughter took over the leadership of the family. Shortly thereafter, in the 1950s, Fiduciary came into the picture, initially as the custodian of the trusts. Eventually, the original trustee decided that he no longer wanted to serve that role, and he recommended—and the family agreed—that Fiduciary should be appointed corporate trustee for the trusts.
The "children’s generation" died about a decade ago, both having survived into their 90s, and the "grandchildren’s generation" came to the fore. Now in their 60s and 70s, they had a total of eight children, some still young, some adults with families of their own—the great-great-grandchildren of the patriarch—with presumably more to come.
Fiduciary has served as corporate trustee to four generations of the Jones family. Because under the terms of these trusts the trustee has broad discretion—including considerable say over how much gets distributed to which generation—it is an extremely important job.
Trusteeship can be a highly personal and complex role, and there is no one "right way" to perform it. Sometimes, as in this case, the first trustee is an individual whom the grantor of the trust knows personally; then, over time, new relationships get established as circumstances change. Many families—especially those with significant assets—eventually decide that they want the continuity that only a corporate trustee can provide.
The Fiduciary officer who currently manages this relationship is only the third Fiduciary employee to work with the family in more than 50 years. At each of the two transitions, there was a multiyear overlap during which the outgoing and incoming Fiduciary account managers worked jointly with the family.
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