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A trust company is normally owned by one of three types of structures; an independent partnership, a bank, or a law firm, each of which specialize in being a trustee of various kinds of trusts, and managing estates.

The "trust" name refers to the ability of the institution's trust department to act as a trustee - someone who administers financial assets on behalf of another. The assets are typically held in the form of a trust, a legal instrument that spells out the beneficiaries and what the money can be spent for.

A trustee will manage investments, keep records, manage assets and prepare court accountings, paying bills and (depending on the nature of the trust) medical expenses, charitable gifts, inheritances or other distributions of income and principal.

Estate administration

A trust company can be named as an executor or personal representative in a last will and testament. The responsibilities of an executor in settling the estate of a deceased person include collecting debts, settling claims for debt and taxes, accounting for assets to the courts and distributing wealth to beneficiaries.

Estate planning is usually also offered to allow clients to structure their affairs so as to minimise inheritance taxes and probate costs. In the United States, one of the primary profit centers for a trust company is commissions earned from selling various types of insurance products designed to minimize the estate tax charged to a person.

A trust officer may provide guardian and conservator services, acting as guardian of a minor's property until adulthood or as conservator of the estate of an adult unable to handle his or her own finances.

Asset management

A trust department provides investment management, including securities market advice, investment strategy and portfolio management, management of real estate and safekeeping of valuables.

Escrow services

The trust company may also provide escrow services, invest education or retirement funds or hold Starker exchange proceeds where cash from the sale of US real estate is held in trust (for tax purposes) until used to buy replacement land.

Corporate trust services

Trust companies may also perform corporate trust services. Corporate trust services are services which assist, in the fiduciary capacity, in the administration of the corporation's debt. For example, in a normal bank loan, the lender normally lends money to the company (usually with conditions called "covenants"), accepts payments from the company monthly, and watches the company to ensure that it is meeting all its agreed upon conditions (for example, that its ratio of profits to expenses stays above a certain amount). However most large companies borrow money not from banks, but by selling bonds. When the company sells bonds, a corporate trust company can handle the acceptance of payments from the company (which it passes on to the bondholders), and is the entity which monitors the company to ensure it is responding to covenants. In the event of the companies bankruptcy, the corporate trust company fights to get as much money back as it can for the bondholders.

Examples of corporate trust companies include Deutsche Bank AG, Pentera Trust Company Limited, Bank of New York, Wells Fargo, US Bank, Commerce Bancorp NJ, HSBC Bank USA, Law Debenture, Union Bank of California, Vistra Trust & Corporate Services

Trusts

A trust involves the administration of assets on behalf of another: an institution or one or more individuals, living or dead.

A living trust appoints a trustee to manage assets during the lifetime of the original settlor; this private arrangement allows for distribution of wealth even if the client becomes incapacitated or unable to act personally. Upon death, the trust controls how and when assets are used and distributed; this can be a substitute for appointment of a legal guardian or conservator to handle assets inherited by young children or others unable to act on their own behalf.

By bypassing the probate process through which a will is handled by the judicial system, a trust may reduce costs or delays, manage real estate, provide more privacy than a bequest in a will and offer possible tax advantages.

A testamentary trust is one created by being written into a will to provide for management of assets to be inherited by beneficiaries.

Revocable trusts

A revocable trust is one in which assets remain under the ownership of the client and the trustee acts solely as a hired manager. As the client still owns the property, there are normally no tax advantages involved in this arrangement.

Irrevocable trusts

An irrevocable trust is often used for charitable purposes by organisations or millionaires ("high net worth individuals") as well as for the management of inheritances. As the benefactor relinquishes control of the assets upon creating the trust, any charitable activities incur tax benefits even while the assets are invested to provide a financial endowment for later use by the charitable foundation. This approach has been successfully used foundations established by well-known and wealthy families such as the Ford (automobile), Carnegie (steel) and Arthur Vining Davis (aluminium) family.

A trust may also be an integral part of an institution founded by such an individual or group, created to ensure its long-term financial viability.