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LNW Trust Services
for Multigenerational Wealth

Trust Administration

Personalized Care and Exceptional Service for Your Trusts

LNW Trust Companies in Washington State & South Dakota to Serve as Your Corporate Trustee

One of the most important financial decisions you will ever make is choosing a trustee. The trustee is the person or entity that makes sure the trusts you establish will work as intended, often over many generations. 

When you name one of the LNW trust companies as trustee, you are inviting us into a long-term relationship with the people and organizations you care about most – the trust beneficiaries. 

That is an honor we take very seriously and which we do our utmost to execute at the highest level of fiduciary care. 

The relationship starts with us reviewing what trust(s) you may already have in place, what other trust strategies can be used to further your personal and financial goals, and LNW serving as your corporate trustee. 

As trustee, LNW has deep expertise administering family trusts and working with family dynamics over many generations. We offer you and your family three strategic advantages in trust services: 

1. Choice of two LNW trust companies to administer your trust(s) and serve as your corporate trustee or co-trustee. How a trust operates is greatly determined by the state it is based in. LNW offers you two options for trust location – Washington State & South Dakota – providing you with options as to trust longevity, privacy, and creditor protection. 

  • The Laird Norton Wetherby Trust Company, based in Seattle, WA and operating continuously since 1967; 
  • The LNW Trust Company of South Dakota, launched in 2023 in Sioux Falls, SD and also serviced from our Seattle office. Learn more about the benefits of a trust in South Dakota.

2. Timely, expert advice on trusts and trust strategies. As trust advisers, LNW experts on trusts and estate planning consider the universe of trust types and capabilities to determine what would work best for you, your family and what you want to accomplish. 

We coordinate our work with the attorney drafting your trust documents and any other relevant professionals (your CPA, business partner, etc.) to make sure the trust will actually do what you intend. We call this “bringing a trust to life.”

Our work starts with an assessment of trusts you may already have in place and how well these serve your estate plan, legacy, and multigenerational wealth transfer goals. 

3. Trust administration and management at the highest level of care. As trustee, LNW can work with your family members and others you may want to add as co-trustees. This is advisable if your children/grandchildren are your trust beneficiaries, or if the assets in the trust require specialized knowledge, such as an operating business.

A co-trustee can bring to the trust the insight of someone who knows you and your situation well, coupled with the expertise of LNW as trust administrator. Over time, we can work with you to make adjustments. As children or grandchildren get older, for example, you can name them as co-trustees so they can gain experience in responsibly managing assets. You can also designate a different responsibility for each co-trustee, as you find out about their interests and abilities.

Our commitment to you as trustee or co-trustee

  • Your trust(s) will be administered at the highest level of fiduciary care, including all legal, financial and administrative functions.
  • Your trust beneficiaries will have access to LNW trust services at all times to help them make the best possible financial decisions and act as an objective intermediary able to say “no” to trust requests when necessary.

Longevity, continuity, care 

While major financial institutions are centralizing and reducing their trusts services, LNW is different.

We continue to invest in our trust capabilities and add expertise. The result is unmatched personal service for you and the people and organizations you name as your beneficiaries for the life of the trust and beyond.

LNW Trust Companies as Your Trustee

Any trust you establish is unique in its terms and particular in its intent. That is something we never lose sight of. Find out all that LNW does as your corporate trustee.