How Do I Open a Trust Account at Schwab?

Opening or retitling

In a branch

Available

Online

Available

By phone

Not stated

By mail

Available

Appointment

Not stated

Co-trustees

All must sign or appear

Existing account

Can be retitled to the trust

What proves the trust

A certification of trust or the full instrument

Certification form

Not stated

What it costs

Opening deposit

$0 (Schwab One Trust Account: "Account opening minimum: $0")

Monthly fee

$0 (Schwab One Trust Account: "Monthly service fees: $0")

Fee waived at

Not applicable; the monthly service fee is $0 with no balance threshold

Other waivers

"Other fees may apply" under the Charles Schwab Pricing Guide for Individual Investors; $0 commissions for online listed stock and ETF trades. Checks or a Visa debit card on a Schwab One Trust account require at least a $100 balance unless the account is linked to a Schwab Bank Investor Checking account

Schedule that applies

Schwab One Trust Account published pricing (Estate Planning Accounts page; Pricing page "Schwab One Trust" row), backed by the Charles Schwab Pricing Guide for Individual Investors; a linked Schwab Bank Investor Checking Trust Account or Investor Savings Living Trust Account is priced by the Schwab Bank Deposit Account Pricing Guide (January 2026)

Other charges

None published for a dormant / inactive account, early closing or paper statements in the Schwab Bank Deposit Account Pricing Guide (January 2026) or the Charles Schwab Pricing Guide for Individual Investors. Standard checks are free ("No fee for standard checks delivered by regular U.S. mail. Custom check order fees vary."); "Upon receipt of your Schwab One Trust starter checks, you may contact a Schwab representative to order additional standard checks at no cost."

For trust accounts

Schwab names the trust product and prices it directly: "Schwab One Trust -- Opening and Maintenance Fees $0 -- Account Minimums $0" (Pricing page) and "Schwab One Account, Schwab One Trust, and Schwab Account -- Minimum Deposit Requirement $0" (Pricing Guide). Trust-scoped balance rule: "Schwab One and Schwab One Trust accounts must have a $100 balance in order to receive a debit card or checks, unless linked to a Schwab Bank Investor Checking account." The Schwab Bank Deposit Account Pricing Guide names no trust account; its Investor Checking and Investor Savings rows are product-level.

Who can open it

Existing customer

Not stated

Documents to bring

• Completed Schwab One Trust Account Application (APP10600), all sections; every trustee initials and signs
• Copy of the title page or first page and all signature pages of the trust, or a Certification of Trust
• If the original trustees have changed: the trust page(s) naming or validating the successor trustee
• Trust tax ID number (a Form W-9 if none is provided); a revocable living trust may use the grantor's SSN
• Each trustee's name, address, date of birth, Social Security/tax ID number and passport, driver's license or other ID
• Notarized trustee signatures if the trust is governed by one of 13 named states (not if grantor = trustee = beneficiary)

Steps at Schwab

1. 1
   Gather the Application Checklist information: your Social Security number and driver's license number, statement information for funds to transfer, and the contact information, birth date and Social Security number of each trustee
2. 2
   For a revocable living trust where all grantors, current trustees and beneficiaries are the same individuals, established in the U.S. with all trustees U.S. residents: open the Schwab One Trust Account online at schwab.com/open-an-account/trust (choose Single Trustee or Two Co-Trustees)
3. 3
   For any other trust type, or to add a Schwab Bank Investor Checking Trust Account at opening: download the Schwab One Trust Account Application (APP10600) from schwab.com/forms-and-applications, or call 800-742-6262 for assistance
4. 4
   Complete the paper application in full:

   • Section 1: open a new Schwab One Trust account, open it with a linked Schwab Bank Investor Checking Trust account, or convert an existing Schwab or Schwab One account to a Schwab One Trust account and keep the same account number (a new account is required if the trust's taxpayer identification number is changing)
   • Section 2: the trust's full legal name, tax ID number (a Form W-9 if none is provided), date, governing state, and whether it has been amended or restated
   • Section 3: each trustee's identifying information; photocopy the Co-Trustee section for more than two trustees
   • Section 10 (if no Investor Checking account): choose checks only, checks and one Visa debit card, or checks and two Visa debit cards
   • Sections 14 and 16 (and 18 for an Investor Checking Trust account): every trustee initials the Trustee Certification and signs
   • Section 17: trustee signatures notarized if the trust is governed by the laws of CA, DE, ID, IA, KS, MI, MN, MS, NE, NV, SD, TN or VT, or was established in a U.S. territory (not required for a revocable trust whose grantors, current trustees and current beneficiaries are the same individuals)
5. 5
   Attach a copy (not originals) of the title page or first page and all signature pages of the trust, or all pages of a Certification of Trust (a Memorandum, Affidavit or Abstract of Trust is also accepted on the brokerage application) -- do not attach the entire trust document; if the original trustees have changed, add the trust page(s) naming the successor trustee
6. 6
   Return pages 1-20 with the trust documentation by secure-message upload (existing clients with online access), fax to 1-888-526-7252, at your nearest Schwab branch, or by mail to Charles Schwab & Co., Inc., P.O. Box 982600, El Paso, TX 79998-2600 (West) or P.O. Box 2339, Omaha, NE 68103 (East)
7. 7
   Schwab sends the account number as soon as the completed application is approved; use it to log in at Schwab.com. Checks and debit cards arrive after funding (a Schwab One Trust account needs at least a $100 balance for checks or a debit card unless linked to Investor Checking; Investor Checking checks are sent once that account holds at least $100)

Once it is open

Online banking

Available

Checks

Available

Debit card

Issued

After the grantor dies: the successor trustee at Schwab

Death certificate

Not stated

Trust's own EIN

Not stated

The account

Not stated

Online banking

Not stated

Appointment

Not stated

1. 1
   If the trust's tax ID or Social Security number is NOT changing: complete the Trustee Change Form to add the successor trustee(s) and remove the deceased trustee on the existing Schwab One Trust account (changes carry over to any linked Investor Checking Trust account)
2. 2
   Attach the documents Schwab lists for a domestic trust:

   • The trust page(s) that name the successor trustee or otherwise validate the successor trustee
   • For a trustee removed due to death: a death certificate (the form's Section 4 field asks for a certified copy)
   • Each new trustee's identifying information (Social Security/tax ID number, date of birth, home/legal address, valid identification)
3. 3
   All new, continuing and resigning trustees sign the form; signatures in Section 5 must be notarized, and the notary section shows whether the trust's governing state requires notarization of the other trustee signatures
4. 4
   Return the form by secure-message upload (existing clients with online access), fax to 1-888-526-7252, at any Schwab branch, or by mail to Charles Schwab & Co., Inc., P.O. Box 982600, El Paso, TX 79998-2600 or P.O. Box 2339, Omaha, NE 68103
5. 5
   If the trust's tax ID or Social Security number IS changing: do not use the Trustee Change Form; submit a new Schwab One Trust Account Application, then move the assets with the Check and Journal Request Form or a Letter of Authorization -- "This Account must be closed and a new account must be opened."

Schwab publishes no successor-trustee page; the procedure is the Trustee Change Form (APP32257), which adds or removes trustees on a Schwab One Trust account and its linked Investor Checking Trust account and is also the form for a trustee removed by death. Its instructions page asks for "a death certificate" while its removal field asks for "a certified copy of death certificate" (recorded as a contradiction). Whether the account continues turns on the trust's taxpayer number: the form keeps the account only while the trust's tax ID or Social Security number is unchanged, and a change requires closing the account and opening a new one -- Schwab does not say whether a revocable trust must take a new EIN at the grantor's death. Schwab's general death-notification process (name and Social Security number to start; death certificate verified "typically within 5 business days"; Estate Services at 877-566-2284) is not trust-specific.

What to know at Schwab

Schwab's trust account is the Schwab One Trust Account, a BROKERAGE account with Charles Schwab & Co., Inc. ("Enjoy all the features of our popular Schwab One brokerage account"; "Cash and securities can be placed in trust accounts at Schwab"), not a bank deposit account. A Schwab Bank Investor Checking Trust Account (Charles Schwab Bank, SSB) can be opened with it or added later, and is offered only linked to the brokerage trust account; Schwab Bank also publishes an Investor Savings Living Trust Account application, a deposit account titled to a living trust. Schwab Bank does not offer testamentary trust accounts, and Investor Checking Trust accounts are not available for testamentary trusts or trusts with an entity trustee. The online application is limited to revocable living trusts where all grantors, current trustees and beneficiaries are the same individuals; every other trust uses the paper application, returned by upload, fax, branch or mail. An existing Schwab or Schwab One account can be converted to a Schwab One Trust account keeping its number unless the taxpayer identification number changes; an existing Investor Savings account can be re-registered to a Living Trust account only if all current account holders are all the trustees. Trust accounts are ineligible for the Transfer on Death feature, and an existing TOD is revoked on conversion. Schwab wants only a copy of the trust's title page and signature pages, or a Certification of Trust (the brokerage application also accepts a Memorandum, Affidavit or Abstract of Trust; the two Schwab Bank applications expressly refuse those substitutes -- a contradiction between Schwab's own forms). Schwab publishes no certification-of-trust form of its own. All trustees must sign even if they will not conduct business in the account, and each certifies that no other trustee is currently acting. Trustee signatures must be notarized when the trust is governed by one of 13 named states or was established in a U.S. territory, except for a revocable trust whose grantors, trustees and beneficiaries are the same individuals (the bank forms state that exception without the beneficiary limb). The Investor Checking Trust application states that a revocable living trust "may use Grantor's Social Security number" as the trust tax ID; the brokerage bundle asks only for a trust tax ID number, with a Form W-9 if none is provided. Schwab prices the Schwab One Trust Account by name: $0 to open and $0 monthly, with "Other fees may apply" under the general pricing guide; checks and a Visa debit card are available on the trust account (a $100 balance is needed to receive them unless the account is linked to Investor Checking; debit cards are not issued for testamentary trusts, entity trustees or non-U.S.-citizen/resident trustees). Schwab states no estimated opening time and no appointment requirement. Successor-trustee changes go through the Trustee Change Form (see successor).