Trust Administration FAQ

Yes. While most single-family offices don’t look at a CRM as part of their technology stack because they associated a CRM only with sales and marketing—and they don’t do any selling—a customer relationship management (CRM) can be an ideal operating platform for family offices. Unlike generic CRMs, a solution like WealthHub built specifically for UHNW clients and asset management has a data architecture and workflows tailored for family office requirements.  It easily handles complex entity structures, including trusts, partnerships, and foundations along with management of special and unique assets. It consolidates client data, tracks communications, and automates workflows—helping family offices manage relationships, tasks, and reporting in one secure, centralized hub.

Generic CRMs are built for sales and marketing teams, not for the unique day-to-day operating needs of trust companies or family offices. WealthHub, by contrast, has a data structure and workflows and processes that are built specifically for trust companies and family offices. This includes an entity-based CRM model that captures relationships between families, trusts, beneficiaries, and advisors. Its unique model also allows the management of multi-family multi-generational relationships that characterize UHNW client relationships. It has modules that allow the management of the unique or special assets that family offices and trust companies often have responsibility for, including real estate, planes, private company stock, hedge and private equity funds, oil/mineral gas interests, art, etc. It is also already integrated with leading trust accounting systems and portfolio management systems. Additional features like document management, workflow automation, and compliance tracking make WealthHub an all-in-one operating platform.

Trust companies can improve onboarding by digitizing manual processes and creating automated workflows for document collection, data entry, underwriting tasks like trust document review or admin reviews, compliance/KYC checks, account acceptance, and custodial account opening. With WealthHub, onboarding new trusts becomes faster and error-free thanks to customizable workflows, centralized document storage, and task-tracking tools.

From our experience with clients and prospects the two processes that are the major pain points for trust company operations are

• Account onboarding
• Distribution processing and compliance
• Annual reviews

Other key operational challenges include:

• Managing large volumes of documents and client data
• Lack of integration between reporting and compliance systems
• Manual workflows that slow down operations
• Difficulty tracking communications with beneficiaries and advisors

WealthHub addresses these pain points by consolidating workflows, automating tasks, and creating a single source of truth for all stakeholders.

Family offices can reduce tax-season stress by centralizing the tax preparation process within a CRM like WealthHub instead of using multiple spreadsheets or documents that do not communicate or allow management reporting. Moving tax preparation to a CRM allows for efficiently tracking the receipt of 1099s and K1s, information sent or received from accountants, payment of taxes owed, receipt of refunds, and scheduling quarterly payments for both federal and tax returns.  Integrated reporting tools simplify collaboration with clients, accountants and tax advisors.

Yes. WealthHub functions as more than just a CRM—it’s an ideal operating platform for trust companies and family offices. It unifies entity management, compliance workflows, reporting, and client communication into one system, eliminating the need for multiple disconnected tools.

WealthHub is built with bank-grade security protocols to safeguard confidential client information. Data is encrypted at rest and in transit, access controls are role-based, and the platform undergoes regular SOC 2 security audits to ensure compliance with industry standards.

WealthHub has built integrations with the leading trust accounting systems and portfolio management systems used by trust companies and family offices.   WealthHub clients have positions, balances, and transactions as of the close of the prior day in the system. For systems that have modern APIs, data can also be entered, reviewed, and approved in WealthHub and then sent to the system via API, eliminating double entry.

Entity-based CRM is a relationship model designed for the complexity of family offices and trust companies. It is built from the ground up to handle the complex relationships inherent to trusts, foundations, estates, endowments, and LLCs. Instead of focusing only on individual contacts, WealthHub links families, entities, trusts, beneficiaries, and advisors in a way that reflects real-world relationships. This structure is critical for accurate reporting and efficient relationship management.

Key trends include:

• Increasing use of workflow automation to reduce manual tasks
• Integration of platforms that exchange data, enabling automation
• Enhanced data security and privacy controls
• Exploration of the ways AI tools and be used in operations
• Use of integrated CRMs like WealthHub to unify operations and improve efficiency

Generic business software fails to capture the complex relationships and unique compliance and administration requirements of trust companies and family offices. Software built for retail wealth management does not address the needs of ultra-high net worth (UHNW) advisors relating to the management of multi-family multi-generational relationships nor the administration of trusts or the unique and alternative assets that are common for UHNW relationships. Specialized platforms like WealthHub are designed to manage multi-entity structures, regulatory requirements, and the unique workflows of these industries.

A CRM centralizes all communication records and allows teams to track tasks, calls, and emails associated with each trust or family entity and their assets. WealthHub’s tools help ensure that communications are recorded and easily accessible and that fiduciary tasks are completed on time and as required, while permitting beneficiaries and advisors receive timely updates, improving transparency and trust.