how trust companies work
although trusts often have an individual assigned as the trustee a trust company can also act in the same capacity a trust company does not own the assets its customers assign to its management but it may assume some legal obligation to take care of assets on behalf of other parties a trust company or trust department is usually a division or an associated company of a commercial bank trusts and similar arrangements managed for eventual transfer are managed for profit which it may take out of the assets annually or upon transfer to the beneficial third party there are many trust companies to choose from ranging in size and fees the larger trust companies provide more products and services but may lack the personal touch of smaller institutions some of the larger trust companies are northern trust bessemer trust and u s trust which is now part of bank of america corporation these trusts generally charge their fees based on a percentage of assets ranging from 0 25 to 2 0 depending on the size of the trust 