Estate planning at Hightower
How to protect 8 Hightower accounts — manage beneficiaries by phone, fund a trust by mail, and file claims through Hightower's Hightower Trust Company, NA
Hightower Advisors Main Office
200 W Madison, 25th Floor, Suite 2500, Chicago, IL 60606
Hightower Trust Company, NA
Hightower Trust Company, NA, 300 Madison Avenue, 29th Floor, New York, NY 10017
No Hightower claims department: report the death to the Hightower Advisor Practice that serviced the account. The claim itself is filed with the account custodian (Fidelity, Schwab, or Pershing), which releases the assets
200 W. Madison St., Suite 2500, Chicago, IL 60606
How your Hightower investment accounts transfer at death depends on how each one is titled and whether a beneficiary is on file. Of those, 6 can name a trust as beneficiary or be retitled into a trust. Getting these details right keeps assets out of probate and ensures they reach the intended recipients.
Managing beneficiaries at Hightower is straightforward—changes can be made by mail and by phone, typically taking 15-30 minutes with your advisor; recording time depends on the custodian. Trust funding is also available, allowing families to retitle brokerage accounts into a trust.
There are two sides to estate planning at Hightower: setting things up while you're alive, and the process survivors follow after a death.
Preparing your estate
Beneficiaries and trust funding
How to update beneficiaries by phone, fund a trust by mail, and review 8 account types at Hightower.
View details →When someone dies
Death claim process
Contact Hightower's Hightower Trust Company, NA to file a claim. 7-step process, 6 required documents, and contact information for survivors.
View details →Reach Hightower's Hightower Trust Company, NA at (800) 894-6040 for help with any of these procedures.
Frequently asked questions
Ask your Hightower advisor to start it, but the retitling itself happens at the custodian (Fidelity, Schwab, or Pershing) because that is where the assets actually sit. The custodian opens a new trust-titled account and moves the holdings in kind, so nothing is sold and the retitling does not trigger a capital gain. You provide the trust agreement or Certification of Trust, trustee identification, and the trust EIN if it has one; a revocable trust generally uses the grantor's Social Security number while the grantor is alive. Expect roughly 1 to 3 weeks depending on the custodian. IRAs and other retirement accounts can never be retitled into a trust -- they can only name the trust as beneficiary. Verify the new title on the next custodial statement.
Yes, but do not simply write the name into your trust and assume the job is filled. Hightower Trust Company, NA is an affiliate (nationally chartered by the OCC in 2022), not the advisory firm, and it reviews each trust BEFORE accepting an appointment to confirm it is able and willing to administer it. It asks drafting attorneys to incorporate its standard trust provisions and publishes three sets -- Corporate Trustee Delaware, Corporate Trustee Texas, and Directed Trustee Delaware -- at hightowertrust.com/how-to-appoint-hightower.html. The appointment runs through your Hightower advisor, who arranges the introduction. Be ready to provide your estate planning objectives and draft documents, statements for the assets the trust will hold, beneficiary names, relationships, citizenship and residence, recent trust distribution history, recent trust and gift tax returns, and any special circumstances such as special-needs beneficiaries or pending litigation. Once appointed, the trust company makes distributions, tracks principal and income, provides beneficiary tax forms, and files the trust income tax returns.
Sources
Data sourced from Hightower primary sources (16 pages reviewed). How we research.
Hightower Advisors Main Office
200 W Madison, 25th Floor, Suite 2500, Chicago, IL 60606
Hightower Trust Company, NA
Hightower Trust Company, NA, 300 Madison Avenue, 29th Floor, New York, NY 10017
No Hightower claims department: report the death to the Hightower Advisor Practice that serviced the account. The claim itself is filed with the account custodian (Fidelity, Schwab, or Pershing), which releases the assets
200 W. Madison St., Suite 2500, Chicago, IL 60606
Estate planning articles
Learn how to protect your Hightower accounts and other assets with trusts, beneficiary designations, and estate planning documents.
