Conshohocken, PA -- (SBWire) -- 03/16/2015 --Sterling Trustees is a well-respected South Dakota-chartered trust company located in Sioux Falls, SD. The firm provides independent trust management services to clients in the United States and internationally.

As 2015 quickly proceeds, our renowned global trust administration organization would love to illustrate a core list of questions that will greatly assist estate planners, accountants, money managers and other centers of influence. These questions should be the standard questions posed when referring a client to an appropriate trust service. It starts with a simple question that anyone requiring trust services should ask: "Should your trustee also be your investment advisor?"

This goes to the importance of independence for successful management of Corporate Trustee Services. What many do not realize, however, is that many trust administrations and organization manage trust administration and the investment advisory role alike for a given trust.

Unfortunately, many of these companies either actively encourage or fully expect their clientele to take part in their in-house advisory and investment services as well as their financial products, and some make these services and products a pre-requisite of using their trust administration services in the first place.

This relationship is a classic, crystal-clear example of conflict of interest—a scheme that is allowed unknowingly by clientele that possibly don't fully grasp the differences between investment advisory services and trust administration services. Sometimes individuals aren't fully aware that the option to bring in an independent corporate trustee is always on the table. Sometimes, people just don't realize how many trust companies out here that are actually 100% independent.

Sterling believes its keys to defining the importance of independence will aid those in search of a trust management service greatly, and making their selection of the proper trustee much easier and clearer.

When many individuals seek trust administration or management, they are looking to estate planners and accountants for answers– to help identify the right company for them. Many of the centers of influence aren't aware of better and alternative solutions out in the marketplace and often elect to go with a large brand name solution in order to protect their reputation with the client even though they may be knowingly creating this conflict of interest.

Defining the Eight Keys for the Importance of Independence for Corporate Trustee Services

According to Sterling Trustees, "When clients or their advisors need someone to administer a trust, they should look at more than just the firm's reputation, state of charter and level of expertise of its officers. They should ask the following questions:"

- Are you actively investing your assets? Do you exclusively oversee the activities of your money managers, asset growth and investment decisions?

- Are you providing your services for some kind of fee? Maybe you possibly receive brokerage or sale commissions back from the investment advisors you work with?

- Is your firm taking advantage of your own services and financial opportunities, or are you going through affiliated organizations?

- Can the client work with its own independent money manager and custodian?

- How much time do you typically give for money managers and administrators to prove their worth to you? What kind of metrics and performance measurements are you using to analyze your investment advisors?

- What type of due diligence do you carry out when working with an advisor?

- How much reporting do you perform for your clientele? What kind of reports do you do? How frequently do you report to your clients, and how detailed are they?

- How many trust accounts do each of your trust officers administer on a yearly basis?

With these keys, Sterling Trustees believes clients will now be better positioned to understand which questions to ask and when its time, making the right choice for their trustee.

About Sterling Trustees
Sterling Trustees is a fee-only trust administration organization in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. By working independently, the firm allows its clients to avoid the extra costs and conflicts of interest associated with large financial institutions. Sterling Trustees' main goal is to keep assets safe while remaining objective.

For more information, please visit http://www.sterlingtrustees.com