Trust Services

Why Trust - The choice is who does the work

A family member can serve. The harder question is who serves when that person is ill, away, or tired of the recordkeeping. A corporate trustee does not move away or sit across the holiday table from the beneficiary.

How the work proceeds

Who carries this out when you cannot

A family has the documents. Trust is funded. The parents named their eldest child as trustee and executor, believing it was an honor. It works—until the parents pass away and that child is left grieving while trying to catalog accounts, coordinate with the CPA, and explain distribution timelines to their siblings.

That is the moment a corporate trustee can step in to be a neutral party for the beneficiaries. When someone must inventory the assets, pay the ongoing bills, file court reports, and treat each beneficiary exactly as the document specifies—including the sibling who is impatient, and the one who is not.

The harder question is who serves when that child is busy with their own career, lives out of state, or is exhausted by the recordkeeping. A corporate trustee does not move away and does not have an emotional interest in the trust. If a spouse or child remains trustee, the bank can keep the books as agent, so the family keeps the role without the back-office strain.

What we are appointed to do

• Trustee now, on a living trust, through incapacity and after death, for the assets the trust holds.
• Successor trustee, named in the document, ready when the family trustee no longer can or no longer wants to serve.
• Agent for trustee, when the family keeps the office and wants the bank to keep the records.

Why this bank

Where this shows up

The appointment is the one the document already names. These are the situations families, business owners, and donors bring to that conversation.

Families and estates

Parents name an adult child and then they worry about the burden on the adult child.
A couple funds a living trust and names their eldest child as successor trustee, meaning it as an honor. After they are gone, that child is grieving, cataloging accounts, and explaining timelines to siblings. PSBTrust can be named successor trustee, or can step in when the family trustee no longer can or no longer wants to serve. The officer inventories the assets, pays the bills, keeps the records, and distributes exactly as the document says.

A spouse or child stays trustee, but not the bookkeeper.
The family wants to keep the office. What they do not want is the accounting, the tax packets, and the reports. As agent for trustee, the bank keeps the books while the spouse or child remains trustee. The family keeps the role. The bank carries the recordkeeping.

Incapacity, while the person is still living.
The trust is funded and the grantor can no longer manage the accounts. A family member is out of state or uneasy signing. As trustee, the bank pays the ongoing bills, keeps the inventory, and follows the trust through incapacity and after death for the assets the trust holds.

No funded living trust, and a will names the bank.
Assets still have to pass through probate. Notices, inventories, debt claims, and tax filings are a poor gift to a grieving spouse or child. As personal representative, PSBTrust collects the assets, pays lawful claims, works with counsel, facilitates the accounting, and distributes what remains.

Siblings who do not agree.
One beneficiary wants a distribution now. Another wants the house kept. The document already says who gets what. A corporate trustee does not sit across the holiday table from either of them and does not take a side. The bank treats each beneficiary as the document specifies.

The child who would have served has moved away.
The named trustee lives out of state, has a career, and is exhausted by the recordkeeping. The bank does not move away, and the file stays with the officer in Woodland Park rather than a call center.

A second marriage and children from the first.
The trust has to provide for a surviving spouse and still reach the children of an earlier marriage. That is where a family trustee is most exposed to being accused of favoritism. The bank follows the document: income, principal, and the remainder, reported the same way to each beneficiary.

The house, the cabin, and the accounts.
The trust holds a residence, a mountain property, and investment accounts. Someone has to insure the house, pay the taxes, and decide what is distributed in kind. The bank inventories what the trust holds, keeps the records, and distributes to the people the document names.

Business succession

Parents have their adult child running the business and would like the adult child to end up as the owner.
The company is the largest asset. One child works in it. The others do not. The parents and their counsel have already written the trust or the buy-sell so the operating child can take the company and the others are equalized with cash, insurance, or non-business assets. PSBTrust does not rewrite that plan. As trustee or personal representative, the bank inventories the stock, works with counsel and the CPA, honors the transfer the document directs, and settles the non-business assets.

The owner dies before the handoff is finished.
The succession was discussed and not completed. Company stock, a buy-sell, and a line of credit now sit in an estate. As personal representative, or as trustee if the shares were funded into the trust, the bank collects the business interest, pays lawful claims, and coordinates with counsel and the CPA on the valuation, the buy-sell, and the tax filings.

A business interest inside a funded trust.
The shares are already in the trust, with directions for who votes them, who may buy them, and what the other children receive. As trustee, the bank follows those directions: inventory, records, and the distribution the document names.

Charitable gifts and nonprofit legacies

A one-time gift ends at distribution. A charitable trust is an appointment that continues, and only if the document names that role and the appointment is accepted.

The will leaves a check to a named charity.
A donor wants the church, the hospital, or a local nonprofit to receive a set amount or a percentage when the estate settles. That is estate settlement, not an ongoing trust. As personal representative, PSBTrust pays the lawful claims, then distributes what the will directs. The charity receives the gift once.

The donor wants the gift to last, not be spent.
The same family would rather the charity receive income each year than a lump sum that can be used up. Counsel writes a charitable trust that names the bank as trustee. The bank inventories the assets, invests them under the document, pays the charity what the instrument requires, and accounts for it. The gift continues for the term the document sets.

Income to the family, remainder to charity.
A couple wants income while one of them is living but wants the estate to go to a non profit after both persons have passed away. This could be in the form of a one time or perpetual gift. That is the usual shape of a charitable remainder trust. If named trustee, the bank pays the income the document calls for, keeps the records and the tax packets, and transfers the remainder when the term ends.

Charity first, family later.
A business owner wants a charity supported for a term of years, then the remainder to the children. That is the usual shape of a charitable lead trust, and it is often paired with a succession plan. The bank follows the term: payments to the named charity, then the remainder to the children the document names. Counsel and the CPA own the tax design. The bank owns the administration.

Business stock and a charitable remainder.
The company is the large asset. The owner wants the children who run it to keep control, and a charity to receive value. Counsel may use a buy-sell, insurance, or a charitable trust funded with non-voting interests. The bank does not design that. If the document names the bank, the trust officer inventories the interest, coordinates with counsel and the CPA, and carries out the sale or the distribution the instrument already directs.

A restricted gift the nonprofit should not commingle.
A donor will leave land, a cabin, or a portfolio, but only for a named purpose. An outright gift can be folded into the charity’s general fund. A trust that names the bank as trustee keeps that purpose in the document. The bank pays only as the instrument allows.

The family foundation, versus writing the check.
Some families want their name on a lasting fund and a board of children deciding the grants. A private foundation is a different appointment from a bequest. PSBTrust can be named trustee of the instrument counsel writes, keep the books, and see that grants follow the document. It is not the family’s grant committee. If the family only wants a lasting gift, the cleaner path is a trust that pays an existing charity, with the bank as trustee for the term.

A nonprofit is the beneficiary, and no one at the charity can serve.
The board does not want to be trustee of a donor’s family trust. Naming the bank as trustee separates the charity’s program from the custody, the accounting, and the distributions. The nonprofit receives what the document provides. It does not inherit the fiduciary job.