Estate planning at William Blair
How to protect 11 William Blair accounts — manage beneficiaries online, fund a trust in-branch, and file claims through William Blair's Private Wealth Management / Wealth Strategy
Phone(312) 236-1600
Toll-Free1-800-730-6003
EmailPWM@williamblair.com
Mailing Address
William Blair & Company, L.L.C., 150 North Riverside Plaza, Chicago, IL 60606
Los Angeles Private Wealth
William Blair Funds (Mutual Funds)
William Blair Funds (Prospectuses)
Private Wealth Management / Wealth Strategy
Phone(312) 236-1600
Toll-Free1-800-730-6003
EmailPWM@williamblair.com
Mailing Address
William Blair & Company, L.L.C., 150 North Riverside Plaza, Chicago, IL 60606
Los Angeles Private Wealth
WebsiteLearn more→
Phone(312) 236-1600
Toll-Free1-800-730-6003
EmailPWM@williamblair.com
Mailing Address
William Blair & Company, L.L.C., 150 North Riverside Plaza, Chicago, IL 60606
Verified Jul 2026
William Blair has 11 investment accounts, each with different rules for what happens when the account holder dies. Of those, 11 can name a trust as beneficiary or be retitled into a trust. The right combination of beneficiary designations and trust ownership can keep the entire portfolio out of probate.
William Blair lets account holders update beneficiary designations online, in branch, and by mail, typically taking 15-30 minutes with advisor. Trust funding is also available, allowing families to retitle brokerage accounts into a trust.
There are two sides to estate planning at William Blair: setting things up while you're alive, and the process survivors follow after a death.
Preparing your estate
Beneficiaries and trust funding
How to manage beneficiaries online, fund a trust in-branch, and review 11 account types at William Blair.
View details →When someone dies
Death claim process
Contact William Blair's Private Wealth Management / Wealth Strategy to file a claim. 4-step process, 9 required documents, and contact information for survivors.
View details →William Blair's Private Wealth Management / Wealth Strategy can answer questions about beneficiaries, trusts, or death claims at 1-800-730-6003. Email inquiries can be sent to PWM@williamblair.com.
Frequently asked questions
Yes. Individual and joint brokerage accounts and advisory accounts can be retitled to a revocable living trust. Contact your private wealth advisor to initiate the process. You will need a certified copy of your trust agreement, government-issued ID for all trustees, and the trust tax identification number. Assets remain custodied at NFS (Fidelity) after retitling.
Client assets are custodied at National Financial Services LLC (NFS), a Fidelity Investments broker-dealer, which has served as William Blair's custodian since 2015. Client assets at NFS are segregated and not commingled with NFS assets. NFS only executes trades at William Blair's direction. Investor protections include FDIC coverage (up to $2.5M individual / $5M joint via Bank Deposit Sweep Program), SIPC coverage (up to $500,000 per account), and excess-of-SIPC insurance ($1 billion aggregate) provided through the Fidelity platform.
Yes. William Blair is 100% active-employee-owned with broad-based ownership. Founded in 1935 in Chicago, the firm is an independent global financial services partnership specializing in investment banking, investment management, and private wealth management. Private Wealth Management advises on $80.3+ billion in client assets (as of March 31, 2026) across 139 wealth advisors and 12 U.S. office locations.
The Bank Deposit Sweep Program (BDSP) automatically sweeps uninvested cash in your brokerage or advisory account into interest-bearing FDIC-insured deposit accounts at participating banks. FDIC coverage extends up to $2.5 million per depositor for individual accounts and $5 million for joint accounts. Details and participating banks are listed at https://www.williamblair.com/Private-Wealth-Management/Bank-Deposit-Sweep-Program
No. IRAs cannot be retitled to a trust. However, a trust can be named as the beneficiary of a Traditional IRA, Roth IRA, Rollover IRA, or SEP IRA. Contact your William Blair private wealth advisor to complete an IRA Beneficiary Designation Form naming the trust. Consult your estate planning attorney to ensure the trust qualifies as a designated beneficiary under IRS rules.
For William Blair mutual fund accounts, call 1-800-635-2886 for general assistance and forms, or 1-800-742-7272 for prospectuses and summary prospectuses. Visit https://www.williamblairfunds.com/ for fund information, performance, and account forms. Mutual fund accounts are separate from William Blair private wealth management brokerage accounts.
Sources
Data sourced from William Blair primary sources (21 pages reviewed). How we research.
Phone(312) 236-1600
Toll-Free1-800-730-6003
EmailPWM@williamblair.com
Mailing Address
William Blair & Company, L.L.C., 150 North Riverside Plaza, Chicago, IL 60606
Los Angeles Private Wealth
William Blair Funds (Mutual Funds)
William Blair Funds (Prospectuses)
Private Wealth Management / Wealth Strategy
Phone(312) 236-1600
Toll-Free1-800-730-6003
EmailPWM@williamblair.com
Mailing Address
William Blair & Company, L.L.C., 150 North Riverside Plaza, Chicago, IL 60606
Los Angeles Private Wealth
WebsiteLearn more→
Phone(312) 236-1600
Toll-Free1-800-730-6003
EmailPWM@williamblair.com
Mailing Address
William Blair & Company, L.L.C., 150 North Riverside Plaza, Chicago, IL 60606
Verified Jul 2026
Estate planning articles
Learn how to protect your William Blair accounts and other assets with trusts, beneficiary designations, and estate planning documents.
