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Trust Administration Services

Protect Your Family’s Legacy with Experienced Trust Management and Administration Services

Contact Our Trust Services Team

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A family walking in a field, confident in their family trust

A Modern Approach to Trust Services

The need for trust services has never been greater as families approach their legacy in an organized and highly personal way.

Cresset Trust Company meets your family’s trust needs with the highest fiduciary standard. Partnering with you and your legal counsel, we honor the grantor’s intent, manage complex assets, and address beneficiary needs. As a South Dakota Chartered Public Trust Company, we offer favorable trust laws, privacy, asset protection, and customized, white-glove solutions that set us apart.

Our Trust Administration Services

Trustee Roles

Full Trustee

Full array of discretionary trust services, including the management of trust assets, trust administration, distribution decisions, coordination of tax filings, beneficiary communication, etc.

Co-Trustee

Along with others, such as a designated family member, we share the various responsibilities of full trustee.

Directed Trustee

Along with others, such as a designated family member, we share the various responsibilities of full trustee.

Delegated Trustee

A nominated investment professional, or other party, is delegated a specific investment or distribution function. Cresset Trust Company provides oversight, as well as the remainder of all trust services.

Full Trustee

Full array of discretionary trust services, including the management of trust assets, trust administration, distribution decisions, coordination of tax filings, beneficiary communication, etc.

Co-Trustee

Along with others, such as a designated family member, we share the various responsibilities of full trustee.

Directed Trustee

Trust administrative services, South Dakota situs, coordination of tax filings, and money movement. All investment and distribution decisions are managed by others.

Delegated Trustee

A nominated investment professional, or other party, is delegated a specific investment or distribution function. Cresset Trust Company provides oversight, as well as the remainder of all trust services.

Types of Trusts Administered

  • Asset Protection Trusts (Self Settled or Third Party)
  • Beneficiary Defective Trusts
  • Charitable Trusts
  • Dynasty Trusts
  • Estate Settlement
  • Grantor Retained Annuity Trusts
  • Insurance Trusts
  • Intentionally Defective Grantor Trusts
  • Revocable Trusts
  • Spousal Lifetime Access Trusts (SLAT)
  • Special Purpose Trusts
  • Special & Supplemental Needs Trusts
  • Marital & Family Trusts
  • QSBS Trusts
  • & Others
  • Asset Protection Trusts (Self Settled or Third Party)
  • Beneficiary Defective Trusts
  • Charitable Trusts
  • Dynasty Trusts
  • Estate Settlement
  • Grantor Retained Annuity Trusts
  • Insurance Trusts
  • Intentionally Defective Grantor Trusts
  • Revocable Trusts
  • Spousal Lifetime Access Trusts (SLAT)
  • Special Purpose Trusts
  • Special & Supplemental Needs Trusts
  • Marital & Family Trusts
  • QSBS Trusts
  • & Others

The Cresset Trust Services Team

Meet the trust services leadership team providing a boutique experience dedicated to your needs.

Jon Crow

Jon Crow

Executive Managing Director, Head of Client Advisory Services
Anne Novak

Anne Novak, CPA, PFS, CTFA

Managing Director & Vice President, Cresset Trust Company
Anne Paape

Anne Paape, J.D.

Managing Director, Sr. Fiduciary Counsel, Cresset Trust Company
Alyssa Rosendahl

Alyssa Rosendahl, J.D., CTFA

Director, Trust Services
Cady Troester

Cady Troester, JD, CTFA

Director, Trust Services
Lisa Rickman

Lisa Rickman, CPA

Associate Director, Trust Services
Schedule Call

Cresset Trust Company Testimonials

“

Cresset is at the top of the referral list we give to clients who are looking for a South Dakota trustee. Cresset is responsive, professional, efficient, and generally a pleasure to work with.
— Ultra-High-Net-Worth Estate Planning Partner
Working with Cresset feels like a seamless extension of our own team. Their deep bench of experts in areas like tax and life insurance, combined with their collaborative, team-oriented approach, ensures that clients receive comprehensive and thoughtful service.
— Partner at an AM Law 200 National Firm
Cresset is a first-class team of trust professionals in a first-class jurisdiction. They have been able to handle sophisticated investments and can keep up with the pace of investment needs and the needs of the trust beneficiaries.
— Senior Partner and Investment Committee Member of a Global Private Equity Firm
The above testimonials are from current anonymous partners of Cresset. They have not received compensation to participate in these endorsements. There are no material conflicts. The testimonials were given in September 2024.

Why Choose Cresset as a Corporate Trustee for Your Family's Trusts?

Your corporate trustee ensures that your trust is managed professionally, impartially, and with long-term stability, helping to preserve and protect your family’s wealth for future generations.

Specialized Knowledge & Experience

Corporate trustees bring a deep understanding of trust law, tax implications, and investment strategies, ensuring that the trust is managed according to the highest legal and financial standards.

Unlike individual trustees who may have personal biases or conflicts of interest, corporate trustees act impartially, making decisions solely based on the best interests of the beneficiaries.

Corporate trustees provide consistent management across generations, avoiding disruptions that may occur if an individual trustee becomes incapacitated, retires, or passes away.

With dedicated teams, corporate trustees can handle the complex administrative tasks of a trust, including record-keeping, compliance, and reporting, ensuring that all legal and regulatory requirements are met.

Corporate trustees are regulated entities with fiduciary responsibilities that serve in the best interests of clients. This oversight provides an added layer of security and ensures that the trust is managed with the highest level of care and integrity.

Corporate trustees often have access to a broad range of resources, including legal, tax, and investment professionals, allowing for a more comprehensive approach to trust management.

Specialized Knowledge & Experience

Corporate trustees bring a deep understanding of trust law, tax implications, and investment strategies, ensuring that the trust is managed according to the highest legal and financial standards.

Impartiality

Unlike individual trustees who may have personal biases or conflicts of interest, corporate trustees act impartially, making decisions solely based on the best interests of the beneficiaries.

Continuity & Stability

Corporate trustees provide consistent management across generations, avoiding disruptions that may occur if an individual trustee becomes incapacitated, retires, or passes away.

Professional Management

With dedicated teams, corporate trustees can handle the complex administrative tasks of a trust, including record-keeping, compliance, and reporting, ensuring that all legal and regulatory requirements are met.

Security & Accountability

Corporate trustees are regulated entities with fiduciary responsibilities that serve in the best interests of clients. This oversight provides an added layer of security and ensures that the trust is managed with the highest level of care and integrity.

Resources & Infrastructure

Corporate trustees often have access to a broad range of resources, including legal, tax, and investment professionals, allowing for a more comprehensive approach to trust management.

Trust Assets in Excess of

$3.8B*

*as of Oct 1, 2024

Founded in

2015

Full Array of

Trustee Services
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Holistic Family Office Solution

Centralize your private wealth needs and create cohesiveness across key foundational areas of wealth and well-being. Whether seeking an all-in-one solution or selected services, your family office will be tailored to help meet your goals now and across generations.

Explore Family Office

Wealth Strategy
& Estate Planning

Tax Strategy
& Planning

Private Investment
Opportunities

Liquidity
& Exit Planning

Goals-Based Planning
& Investing

Trust
Services

Banking
& Lending Solutions

Risk
Management

CFO
Services

Family Governance
& Education

Philanthropy
& Impact

Lifestyle
Services

Frequently Asked Questions

What if I have real estate of other non-marketable assets in the trust?
Cresset Trust Company (CTC) is well-versed in the oversight of special assets. Our clients commonly have complex financial lives and expect that their trusts will as well. Please contact us about any specific asset questions, and note that we regularly manage trusts that hold real estate, closely held businesses, operating companies, notes, intellectual property, etc.
We need to review the document for any trust we are considering, but it is common for a trust to be drafted using another state law. Often CTC can act as trustee or co-trustee and move the administrative functions to South Dakota but leave the substantive governance in the state the trust originated. It is also common for a trust to allow the governing situs to be changed by a trustee. Further, we can always consider whether decanting or modification could accomplish your goals. Each trust situation is unique, but often we can find a solution along with your team of advisors.
It is common in older trust instruments that any corporate trustee must meet certain financial requirements. As with many situations, each trust is unique and we are always willing to review a document and let you know if we meet the requirements or have a solution to modify the requirements if that is your desire.
We appreciate being part of the drafting process, it helps us develop a sense of the grantor’s intent, get to know your legal team, as well as the purpose and structure of the transaction. However, we do not require specific provisions to be included before we act as the trustee. We can be helpful in incorporating South Dakota law, or sharing experience with specific language around beneficiary distributions, notice or waiver of notice to future beneficiaries, diversification of assets, etc.
We do not. We work through your outside legal team to get the trust in place.
We charge flat fees that are paid annually in advance and are not tied to the size of the trust or assets managed. Feel free to reach out to request a review and customized fee quote.
We do have quite a bit of experience in this area. We work closely with the grantor and other family members to determine the grantor’s intent and beneficiary needs. No one situation is the same, and we work hard to customize our approach so that the family doesn’t have to be in the difficult position of a trustee.
We are nimble and can typically make a distribution decision within days, rather than the weeks or months of a large institution. Every distribution request is unique, so there may be information requested before we can approve, but we strive to be thoughtful, creative, flexible, and responsive—while still acting in compliance with the trust and our fiduciary duties.
The preparation of trust tax returns is not included in the trustee fee, but we do coordinate all aspects of tax filings and payments. We can work through your existing tax preparer or arrange for a tax preparer on your behalf.

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