Trust services have long been misunderstood—or simply overlooked—by financial advisors who mistakenly view them as either irrelevant or risky to their client relationships. Yet, trusts often hold a key to deeper, more durable client relationships, especially with high-net-worth households. With expectations rising and client demands evolving, Fiduciary Trust of New England positions itself as a critical partner for advisors seeking to offer sophisticated, scalable solutions.
In an interview with The Wealth Advisor’s Scott Martin, Michael N. Costa, President and CEO of Fiduciary Trust of New England, discussed why trust services represent an untapped opportunity for many advisors, how Fiduciary stands apart in the industry, and why New Hampshire’s legal environment offers meaningful advantages for estate planning.
Meeting a Clear Client Demand
Many advisors assume trust services fall outside their value proposition—but according to Costa, that assumption creates a major gap between client expectations and advisor offerings.
“We think trusts are an important opportunity for advisors,” Costa says. “Industry data suggests that there’s a significant unmet need for trust services among high net-worth clients. According to CEG Insights, an industry research group, 94% of clients with $1 million to $25 million of investable assets expect their advisors to offer trust services,” he points out. “Unfortunately, only 11% of those clients are receiving those trust services from their current advisor. So, those advisors that can offer trust services have a significant competitive advantage.”
Beyond meeting expectations, Costa emphasizes how trust solutions might help advisors grow their businesses: trust services create an opportunity for advisors to attract larger clients, since more substantial wealth typically requires more sophisticated planning that includes trust structures. The capability also may enable advisors to move upmarket while increasing their share of client assets and improving retention rates by providing comprehensive wealth management solutions.
By integrating trust capabilities into their offering, advisors can maintain control of client relationships even as complexity grows. “Increasingly, we find ourselves talking to advisors who are wrestling with how to solve for the trust puzzle. And they’re looking at either building, buying it, or partnering with a trust provider who can assist them and complement the services they provide,” Costa explains. “So, this is an issue that’s very much front of mind with many of the advisors we talk to.”
The Attributes of an Advisor-Friendly Trust Company
Finding the right trust partner is critical. Fiduciary Trust of New England, together with its affiliate Fiduciary Trust Company (together referred to as “Fiduciary”) is purpose-built to serve as an advisor-focused collaborator—not a competitor for client relationships. According to Costa, the best trust partners demonstrate transparency, flexibility, and deep domain expertise.
“You want to select a partner who’s an advisor-friendly trust company,” Costa explains. “We would argue that an advisor-friendly trust company should be one that not only has extensive experience serving as a trustee but a demonstrated track record of partnering successfully with external advisors.”
Rather than take over the client relationship, the firm serves as a behind-the-scenes facilitator. The firm supports directed and delegated trust structures—where the advisor manages investments while Fiduciary handles administration, compliance, and fiduciary oversight. “The advisor can focus on what they do best, which is managing the assets within that trust,” Costa says.
Custodial flexibility is another differentiator, as many advisors want to maintain their preferred custodians. Fiduciary supports a custody-agnostic model, meaning it integrates seamlessly with most custodians through modern technology and operational infrastructure—ensuring continuity for both advisors and clients.
Additionally, Fiduciary provides in-house tax, legal, and estate planning expertise—resources that supplement, rather than compete with, the advisor’s services and help advisors win new business. “You want a trust company that has the depth and breadth of internal resources that can be complementary to those that the advisor may have in-house,” Costa says. “Things like tax preparation and tax planning and legal resources that can be brought in as needed to complement those available within the advisor’s own business to help them grow their businesses and attract new clients.”
Non-traditional assets? Not a problem. From real estate to closely held businesses and fine art, Fiduciary routinely works with assets that other providers might decline. “All of those things can be held in a trust and often are as the scale of the wealth increases,” he notes. “We are highly experienced working with non-traditional assets.”
New Hampshire: A Powerful Trust Jurisdiction
While Delaware and South Dakota often dominate headlines in the trust world, Costa makes a compelling case for New Hampshire as a jurisdiction advisors shouldn’t overlook—especially for high-net-worth families seeking flexibility, privacy, and favorable tax treatment.
The state’s competitive edge traces back to 2006, when New Hampshire passed the Trust Modernization and Competitiveness Act. The law consolidated best practices from other jurisdictions and introduced forward-looking provisions for directed trusts, dynasty trusts, asset protection, and decanting—making New Hampshire one of the most flexible trust jurisdictions in the country. In addition, New Hampshire does not impose state income tax on non-grantor irrevocable trusts, creating a significant tax advantage relative to many states.
Costa illustrates the benefit through a client case: a trust originally established in Delaware was successfully decanted and moved to New Hampshire, where the terms were modified to better reflect the family’s current needs. That kind of customization is increasingly important as family structures and estate-planning goals evolve.
New Hampshire also offers a rare legal resource: a dedicated trust court. Unlike family courts in other states—which often prioritize divorce or custody cases—New Hampshire’s trust docket ensures faster resolutions and greater predictability for all parties involved. “In the event that there is litigation that evolves, it can be heard and resolved expeditiously by judges who are very experienced and understand trust law,” Costa says.
Why Fiduciary Trust of New England Stands Apart
As a trust company with over $32 billion in assets under supervision and 140 years of experience, Fiduciary unites scale with personal service. That combination is rare—and essential for advisors working with multigenerational wealth.
“We’ve got a credible story because we’ve done it for more than a century now,” Costa says. For advisors, that legacy signals stability and the ability to support families well into the future. Building off this foundation of experience, Fiduciary Trust of New England was chartered in New Hampshire in 2014 and has grown to over $10 billion in assets under supervision.
Fiduciary’s long-standing experience extends to the firm’s professionals. Many trust officers have law degrees, and most of the attorneys in the firm’s 12-member in-house legal team were previously partners at elite law firms. “We view the depth and breadth of our in-house legal resources as a real competitive advantage,” Costa says. “We’re proud of our experience and think that’s an important distinguishing quality of Fiduciary.”
Legal horsepower enables the firm to confidently manage complexity—whether it’s asset structure, family governance, or cross-jurisdictional planning. “There is little we haven’t seen in a trust,” Costa says. “We’re not afraid to hold non-traditional assets. Part of the reason we’re able to do that is because we have the resources in-house.”
Pioneering Sustainable Investing in Trusts
Fiduciary is also breaking ground in sustainable investing within irrevocable trusts—an area traditionally constrained by outdated statutes. Costa highlights the firm’s role in pushing for legislative change: “We were instrumental in encouraging the legislature in New Hampshire to amend the Prudent Investor Act to explicitly allow for sustainable investing in an irrevocable trust.”
The amendment, one of the first in the country, reflects Fiduciary’s proactive approach to aligning trust services with modern client values. As sustainable investing becomes central to many clients’ portfolios and philanthropic strategies, having a trust partner who can support ESG mandates in perpetuity is increasingly valuable.
Enhancing the Advisor’s Value Proposition
Integrating—not interfering—with the advisor’s practice is Fiduciary’s commitment. “We are very much focused on providing services that are complementary to advisors,” Costa says. In addition to trust services, that includes stand-alone custody services and a donor-advised fund program.
Partnerships often begin with joint business development, including collaborative planning sessions, shared client presentations, and prospecting support tailored to the advisor’s target market. “We spend a lot of time strategizing with our advisor partners and putting our heads together,” Costa says.
The firm frequently serves as co-trustee, working alongside family members or professionals the client designates. It actively supports decanting and trust migration strategies, and with a custody-agnostic approach, Fiduciary integrates easily with most wealth management platforms. “We can just plug into that using the technology and resources that we have,” Costa adds.
Summing up the firm’s philosophy, he says: “Our mantra here is, How do we get to Yes?”
A Long-Term Partner in the Advisor’s Corner
Fiduciary positions itself as a long-term ally for advisors aiming to deepen relationships, scale efficiently, and meet the growing demand for comprehensive estate planning. Advisors balancing complex client needs with a boutique experience often face a trade-off between capability and service. Fiduciary aims to deliver both.
“We like to think of ourselves as a right-sized trust company,” Costa says. “We’re big enough to have the resources yet small enough to deliver a white glove, boutique-like client experience.”
The blend of scale and personal service allows advisors to deliver highly customized solutions without compromising on technical rigor or operational depth—especially critical for clients with complex estate plans, multigenerational goals, or complex assets that demand sophisticated oversight.
By uniting jurisdictional legal advantages with deep fiduciary experience and a collaborative, advisor-first approach, Fiduciary Trust of New England seeks to help advisors expand their value proposition while maintaining control of the client relationship.
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