How advisors talk about and implement successor trustee decisions, working with clients and estate planning attorneys. There’s only $50 trillion at stake over the next thirty years with these successor trustee decisions.
Imagine this scenario: A trusted client, Mr. Thompson, passes away unexpectedly. You learn from the family that an estate attorney had quietly recommended a large bank as successor trustee—a bank now set to replace you as the family's advisor. All because the trustee conversation felt complex, intimidating, or too legally sensitive for you to raise earlier.
On this webpage, we have provided a range of toolkit items that offer clear and confident ways to lead essential trustee discussions early, protecting client relationships and your advisory role. With practice, listening, and returning to this page, you will secure your top client relationships.
Consider this: Your client, Mrs. Ellis, is anxious about how her children will handle their inheritance. You want to reassure her, but worry about stepping outside your advisory lane. She’s looking to you for clarity, but you find yourself fumbling through vague assurances instead of confidently offering clear guidance.
This toolkit webpage, see below for videos and so much more, gives you straightforward scripts, concise explanations, and practical tips—so you’ll never again feel uncertain or underprepared.
Not to frustrate you, but most of the answers (i.e., videos, scripts, one-page infographics) require providing your business email address. We will let you know.
Purpose: Provides simple language advisors that can be used to open the conversation naturally.
Purpose: Clarifies timing and responsibility by trust type.
Purpose: Helps advisors understand attorney behavior and preempt surprises.
Purpose: Details the transition, giving advisors clarity and structure.
Purpose: Shows how to structure co-trustee setups to reduce client discomfort.
Purpose: Outlines what corporate trustees offer future beneficiaries and how the advisor participates in this trust situation
Getting into the weeds, where advisors can learn how to talk about successor trustee issues simply and confidently
You’ve spent years earning your client’s trust—don’t lose it in the final chapter of their plan. Start using the toolkit built by people who’ve been in these conversations hundreds of times. Maybe even thousands. Doesn’t matter – it's a whole of times where best practices are being shared with you.
Type: Checklist
Use Case: Step-by-step advisor prep for client convos
Type: Script
Use Case: Helps advisors say the right things clearly
Type: Script
Use Case: Pre-meeting primer to use with attorneys
Type: Visual Flowchart
Use Case: Simplified timeline for client handoff
Type: Bullet Guide
Use Case: Reinforces advisor urgency
Type: Tip Sheet
Use Case: Prevents confusion around flexibility and power
Type: Flow Chart
Use Case: Showing what each trustee choice offers a clients
Type: Matrix
Use Case: Comparison of typical big bank trust Vs. Advisor friendly trust company
Type: Script
Use Case: Capturing the philosophy of money and family in a poem
...because You expect more.
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