Is there a frontiers bank and trust?

How can we reduce fee's on my father's trust whereby my mother is a co-trustee along with a corporate bank?

• My father passed away in 2003 and left a trust for my sister and I as beneficiaries. My father made my mother co-trustee along with a corporate bank (trust company). The trust company was Bank of America. My mother thought the fees were "exorbitant" at Bank of America and then was able to switch the trust to be held at a smaller trust company with lower fees. The trust terms indicate that my sister and I receive principal distributions at 25, 30, and 35. We are also to receive quarterly income from the trust. I am 30 and my sister is 33. It makes us sad to see so many fees taken out. My mother has calculated over $90,000 in fees have been taken. At this point there is only $650,000 left in the trust. Do you think we could try to get my mother to be sole trustee? What else could we do to eliminate or reduce fees? Nothing ever gets done to the account. It literally sits there and there are no trades.

• Answer:

  A trust always incurs fees even if mom is the sole trustee. A financial institution must invest the funds to produce income thus there are fees for that. Fees range from 1% to 3% no matter where you move the money or who the trustee is.