Services

Traditional Trustee Services

Traditionally, trust organizations reside as a department of a banking institution to push banking products and drive profitability. Our clients are not a number, they’re family. Our pursuit is to create a close relationship with our clients. Empire Trust was founded as, and will remain a boutique firm and will always keep the needs of our customer paramount.

We are different from our competitors in several ways. Empire Trust is willing to serve as trustee of trusts that own alternative assets. We have yet to come across an asset that we are unwilling to hold under management. Also, we take pride in maintaining the relationships with the service provides with whom our clients already work. These include CPAs and accountants, investment managers and attorneys.

Our Services Feature:

Comprehensive document reviews
Document interpretation
Recordkeeping and bill paying
Tax reporting
Access to “Client Portal” to view and retrieve performance reports any time, at your convenience
Personalized service from your trust officer
Coordinated collaboration with your current service providers

Empire Trust welcomes the opportunity to serve as trustee, co-trustee, delegated trustee, or directed trustee. Whatever our title may be, our responsibility is to our clients and their families.

Successor Trustee

Co-Trustee

Agent to Individual Trustee

Distribution Trustee

Investment Trustee

Special Needs Trusts

Conservatorships

Corporate Voting Share Trusts

Directed Trusts

Charitable Trusts

Domestic Asset Protection Trusts

Benefits of a Professional Fiduciary

Often times, a friend or family member is appointed to serve as trustee over a trust. Whereas this appointment may work well in some situations, many benefits exist for choosing a professional, corporate fiduciary.

As professional fiduciaries are heavily regulated, you can be assured that your assets are managed with tight discretion and held with extreme security. Professional fiduciaries are held to the highest standard by federal and state regulators to manage the sensitivity of customer’s assets. When a professional fiduciary is chosen, you can be sure that your assets will not be mixed with the companies operating capital nor will it be mixed with other client’s assets. To prevent any losses whatsoever, professional fiduciaries are required to carry insurance policies that insure client assets. A close friend or family member is not required to adhere to these standards and policies.

Professional trustees work with one goal in mind:

properly managing assets in accordance with the grantor’s wishes. A person can never be 100% certain that a friend or family member will always carry out the wishes exactly as the trust directs.

Professional fiduciaries employ experts with experience

managing all types of assets including liquid and investment assets, real estate, fine art, jewelry, closely-held businesses and much more.

Family and friends may make decisions

on your behalf, based on feelings at a particular time. Professional fiduciaries solely make a decision according to the trust document.

Executor/Personal Representative Services

Navigating the complexities of probate and estate administration is often foreign to an individual without experience. Much like identifying a trustee, many individuals tend to name a family member or close friend as the executor/personal representative of their estate. Empire Trust is qualified to carefully, prudently, and in a timely manner, administer the affairs of an estate.

Empire Trust will perform executor / personal representative services on an hourly rate basis, without a minimum. As a result of such billing method, our goal is to administer and close the estate as timely as prudently possible.

Agency Service

Circumstances exist when an individual knowingly (or unknowingly) is elected to a position of personal representative/executor of an estate of a recently deceased family member or close friend. If navigating the dynamics of probate becomes overly complex and burdensome, Empire Trust may assist through its agency services.

To the extent the named personal representative is uninterested in resigning from such position but seeks to “outsource” the tasks that are necessary to administer an estate, Empire Trust may serve a contractor to this individual in the position of Agent to the executor.

Business Continuity

ETI protects and advances the entrepreneurial spirit of America by administering trusts owning closely-held, family businesses. Through trust relationships, ETI actively governs family businesses upon the death or disability of a patriarch, matriarch or founder. ETI is the solution for successful business succession.

Family Office Services

Managing wealth can dominate your time and may, actually, be burdensome; with keeping current with ever-changing regulatory laws & policies and seeking (sometimes conflicting) advice from the series of service providers, any available time and energy to enjoy your wealth may be lost. Empire Trust Inc. strives to serve as the “quarterback” of your team of professional service providers. Empire Trust, as your trustee is to carry-out your final wishes, the support that we may offer now helps us to better understand the best ways in which to carry-out such wishes.

Estate Planning

Few people understand the purpose, significance, and benefits of an estate plan in combination with well-written trust agreements. Most trust and estate planning misunderstandings are from unfortunate experiences where the service is too expensive, goals are not met, a flexible and reliable plan isn’t offered or there are not enough educational classes for family members.

Philanthropic Planning

For most families, philanthropy provides many opportunities. For some, it is a way to fulfill social responsibility. For others, it is a way to bring their family together for a common cause and teach the result of “doing good”. We work with our families to coordinate meetings with the charity of their choice, help expose the benefits of philanthropy, and help implement the gifts. Planned gifts should work to accomplish specific goals. We work with our families to create a philanthropic plan that will provide benefit to all parties involved.

Heir Education & Preparation

Often, trust companies do not take the time, have the patience or realize the benefit of educating their clients and such clients’ families about the basics of trusts and investment or their personally developed estate plan. ETI knows that education of each family regarding such family’s mission, vision, goals, business and financial affairs is critical to such family’s success, not only as to the family business but as to the family as well. ETI prides itself on the multiple educational opportunities its offers its families and communities.