Trust Services

Helping you achieve your personal and financial goals over generations

Trustee and executor services to ease your mind

As experienced trustees and executors, we provide you and your family with continuity for generations while easing the burden of trust oversight and administration through our efficient, client-first, transparent approach. We work with you and your advisors to administer all types of trusts, from simple living trusts to complicated tax-driven estate planning vehicles, and also offer specialized retirement and charitable foundation services.

2023 Year-End Tax and Estate Planning Opportunities

We outline key year-end opportunities as they relate to gifting, income tax planning, retirement planning, and planning in a high interest rate environment, as well as provide a year-end checklist based on your goals.

A Letter to My Trustees: Using Values to Influence Discretionary Trust Distributions

Adrienne Penta, executive director of the BBH Center for Women & Wealth, and Nicole Jackson Leslie, senior wealth planner, explore how a donor can guide a trustee, even after a trust has been created, to help ensure the trust is used to support and perpetuate a family’s core values for generations to come.

Why a BBH Trust Company?

This table highlights reasons to work with the BBH Trust Companies, including maintaining family harmony, independence and objectivity, experience, compliance, accountability, continuity and resources.
Family
Harmony 
Independence and
Objectivity
Experience Compliance  Accountability  Continuity  Resources 
A corporate fiduciary can facilitate family harmony by helping to resolve conflicting family needs or requirements. We make impartial decisions that are in accordance with the trust’s terms and the donor’s intent. We have extensive tax services along with administrative capabilities that alleviate family burdens, such as recordkeeping and tax filings. We provide investment advisory services through our parent company, BBH. We understand and adhere to the rules and regulations governing trust administration and are subject to regulatory oversight. Our professionals make prudent decisions and are always attentive to their trust responsibilities and clients. We provide clients and their families with continuity for generations, without the concern that age or illness will hamper trust administration. We have external relationships with attorneys and accountants that facilitate effective trust administration. We offer banking services through our parent company, BBH.

Five Pieces of Advice from a Professional Trustee to New Beneficiaries

Alison Hutchinson and Melineh Ounanian outline some ideas for how trust beneficiaries can learn more about their roles and responsibilities.

Our team’s flexibility to make decisions at any time, combined with the fact that our Partners are accessible and able to provide input into decisions daily, provides clients with fast responses and a quick, efficient experience.



The BBH Trust Experience

  • Trusted Fiduciary

    We act as a trusted fiduciary for individuals and families. We provide objectivity and continuity, comfort and reliability to the families we support.

  • Service

    Our low staff-to-client ratio allows us to be responsive and build strong, long-term relationships with trustees and beneficiaries.

  • Flexible Approach

    BBH Partners are actively engaged in trust relationships, allowing for same-day decision-making and a flexible approach to addressing issues that inevitably arise.

  • Collaborative

    We work collaboratively with co-trustees and focus on preparing beneficiaries and facilitating communication.

  • Trust Professionals

    Each trust relationship is staffed with a senior trust officer, a trust administrator and a seasoned tax accountant, who work together to best serve our clients’ needs.

  • Wealth Planning

    Our wealth planners, all former trust and estate attorneys, are available for comprehensive discussions about a family’s overall distribution plan, including assets that may pass outside of the trust.

  • BBH Delaware Trust

    Our Delaware Trust Company provides trust administration in a beneficiary-friendly, tax-efficient jurisdiction.

  • Cayman Islands

    BBH Trust Company (Cayman) Limited offers offshore trust services to non-U.S. clients.

BBH Trust Responsibilities

  • Provide custody and safekeeping of assets
  • Arrange for periodic inspection of tangibles or real property assigned to trust

Keep detailed records of:

  • All financial transactions, including income and principal ledger accounting
  • Substantive communications
  • Family meeting minutes, as applicable
  • Discretionary distribution requests, decisions and rationale
     

  • Invest according to Prudent Investor Act or other applicable laws
  • Consider tax impact of investments and distributions to estate and beneficiaries
  • Make investment decisions based on economic outlook and family circumstances
  • Arrange for periodic valuation of tangibles, real property, business interests or other nonmarketable assets assigned to trust
     

  • Facilitate family meetings
  • Establish regular communications with co-fiduciaries and beneficiaries to review trust terms and distribution needs
  • Stay apprised of statutory disclosure and reporting requirements and coordinate regularly with relevant parties regarding method and timing of communication
  • Prepare and disseminate annual reports as required by trust agreement or governing law
  • Complete and file any required court accounting
     

  • Communicate distribution terms to beneficiaries
  • Proactively check in on beneficiary needs, as desired
  • Document distribution requests with level of detail required by trust agreement
  • Process appropriate distributions quickly and accurately
     

  • Prepare and file state and federal fiduciary in­come tax returns
  • Calculate and process quarterly estimated tax payments
  • Participate in tax audits and other dealings with taxing authorities
  • Coordinate with existing tax providers
  • Review gift and estate tax returns, as requested

  • Ensure compliance with all regulatory requirements, including periodic administrative and investment reviews
     

  • Coordinate with family attorney to prepare and circulate accounting, receipt, release, refunding and/or indemnification agreements, as appropriate
     

Let us provide your family with continuity for generations. Email us at BBHPrivateBanking@bbh.com.

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This communication is for informational purposes only.  The information herein has not been based on a consideration of any individual investor’s circumstances and is not investment advice, nor should it be construed in any way as tax, accounting, legal or regulatory advice.  Individuals should consult their personal tax, accounting and legal advisers regarding any potential investment or strategy.  Any views and opinions are subject to change at any time.

This material does not constitute an offer or solicitation in any jurisdiction where or to any person to whom it would be unauthorized to do so. 

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You are required to read the following important information, which, in conjunction with the Terms and Conditions, governs your use of this website. Your use of this website and its contents constitute your acceptance of this information and those Terms and Conditions. If you do not agree with this information and the Terms and Conditions, you should immediately cease use of this website. The contents of this website have not been prepared for the benefit of investors outside of the United States. This website is not intended as a solicitation of the purchase or sale of any security or other financial instrument or any investment management services for any investor who resides in a jurisdiction other than the United States1. As a general matter, Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. and its subsidiaries (“BBH”) is not licensed or registered to solicit prospective investors and offer investment advisory services in jurisdictions outside of the United States. The information on this website is not intended to be distributed to, directed at or used by any person or entity in any jurisdiction or country where such distribution or use would be contrary to law or regulation. Persons in respect of whom such prohibitions apply must not access the website.  Under certain circumstances, BBH may provide services to investors located outside of the United States in accordance with applicable law. The conditions under which such services may be provided will be analyzed on a case-by-case basis by BBH. BBH will only accept investors from such jurisdictions or countries where it has made a determination that such an arrangement or relationship is permissible under the laws of that jurisdiction or country. The existence of this website is not intended to be a substitute for the type of analysis described above and is not intended as a solicitation of or recommendation to any prospective investor, including those located outside of the United States. Certain BBH products or services may not be available in certain jurisdictions. By choosing to access this website from any location other than the United States, you accept full responsibility for compliance with all local laws. The website contains content that has been obtained from sources that BBH believes to be reliable as of the date presented; however, BBH cannot guarantee the accuracy of such content, assure its completeness, or warrant that such information will not be changed. The content contained herein is current as of the date of issuance and is subject to change without notice. The website’s content does not constitute investment advice and should not be used as the basis for any investment decision. There is no guarantee that any investment objectives, expectations, targets described in this website or the  performance or profitability of any investment will be achieved. You understand that investing in securities and other financial instruments involves risks that may affect the value of the securities and may result in losses, including the potential loss of the principal invested, and you assume and are able to bear all such risks.  In no event shall BBH or any other affiliated party be liable for any direct, incidental, special, consequential, indirect, lost profits, loss of business or data, or punitive damages arising out of your use of this website. By clicking accept, you confirm that you accept  to the above Important Information along with Terms and Conditions.

 
1BBH sponsors UCITS Funds registered in Luxembourg, in certain jurisdictions. For information on those funds, please see bbhluxembourgfunds.com


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