To continue to help advisors court wealthy investors, LPL is building out an extensive field support system designed to provide advisors with all-in-one experts who can help them navigate high-net-worth clients' advisory, insurance, trust and alternative investment needs. "We anticipate hiring a lot of people and will be the only company that has these expert resources in the field for advisors," Poch adds.

Schwab Institutional continues to grow trust assets at a vigorous rate, with assets that total some $151 billion (see sidebar). Cathy Clauson, vice president of product marketing in charge of trusts at Schwab Institutional, says more and more wealthy investors are being driven to advisors' doors because of the consolidation in bank trust departments and because of the shift in the service model from local bankers to toll-free phone centers.

Says Fountain, "We see people all the time who simply do not believe that the people answering the phones at the banks are capable of implementing their families' trust wishes and documents."

Schwab's Clauson says advisors are evolving right along with their clients. "In the past," she says, "everyone was a money manager. Then planning happened and everyone became a wealth manager. Now they're being pulled upstream into family office territory. Clients' need for trust services is driving this metamorphosis.

"We find that in this space, especially at the $5 million in investable assets level, you have to know trusts. These families know what they need, so you have to be able to offer recommendations and adjustments as needed."

Clauson says Schwab is getting traction with its offerings and is helping an advisor move a $50 million trust, one of the largest, to Schwab. "We're very pleased with the pipeline. We have 200 trusts in review at any time, and we use both inside and outside counsel to expedite things. The big takeaway is that most clients have trusts. So reading the documents, making sure client intent is served and making sure all relationships are friendly to you, the advisor, is critical. If you don't, those assets can be pulled from you exactly when the widow or widower need you the most," Clauson says.

Fountain works with ING Trust to include language in all his client trusts that allows Fountain Financial to remain the investment advisor when a client passes. "It's something the client likes, ING likes and we like it, because it keeps the team intact and the same people who built the plan get to execute it," Fountain says. "I was just on the phone this morning with an 83-year-old woman who just lost her husband, and because we're named as the advisor, there are no new relationships she has to deal with in her time of grief."

At Raymond James Trust, assets are coming in the door at a record pace, says President Dave Ness. "We've taken in more than $450 million in assets in the first nine months of the year," he says. That's a significant record for Raymond James. It is directly related to the firm's recruiting success, as well as the fact that the firm has 16 years of operating experience and the trust company is starting to see trusts implemented as clients pass. On the recruiting front: "We're doing business with 100 new financial advisors just since the beginning of the year, and they are bringing trusts with them," Ness says. "As long as the recruiting success at Raymond James continues, we no reason why we won't continue to see 20%-a-year sales increases."

Schwab Finds Advisors Are Central To Investor Decisions

Registered investment advisors have the greatest impact on clients' estate planning decisions, according to exclusive new study findings provided by Schwab Institutional to Financial Advisor magazine.

"We are seeing that this is where the recommendation from advisors really becomes crucial," says Cathy Clauson, vice president of product marketing in charge of trusts at Schwab Institutional, of the study results. Approximately 1,000 advisors were surveyed for the new Independent Advisor Outlook Study, a semiannual survey of advisor sentiment from Schwab Institutional, which has $151 billion in total trust assets.