How Do I Open a Trust Account at Wells Fargo?

Opening or retitling

In a branch

Available

Online

Not stated

By phone

Not stated

By mail

Not stated

Appointment

Not stated

Co-trustees

Not stated

Existing account

Not stated

What proves the trust

A certification of trust

Certification form

Not stated

What it costs

Monthly fee

Not stated for trust accounts

Fee waived at

Not stated for trust accounts

Other waivers

Not stated for trust accounts; the Premier Checking business-fee waiver extends to a customer who is a "trustee of the Premier Checking ... account"

Schedule that applies

Not stated; a trust account appears in neither the Consumer nor the Business Account Fee and Information Schedule, and unlisted types are directed to a banker

For trust accounts

The Business Schedule names a trustee as an owner category of a consumer checking account: "Customer must be an individual owner, joint owner, or trustee of the Premier Checking, Private Bank Checking, or Private Bank Interest Checking account and be a business owner with transaction authority on the business account." The Consumer Schedule counts "applicable Wells Fargo bank fiduciary and custody accounts" toward the Prime Checking and Premier Checking qualifying balances. Neither schedule prices or names a trust-owned deposit account.

Who can open it

Existing customer

Not stated

Documents to bring

• Certification of Trust
• Primary and secondary government-issued ID for each individual opening the account

Once it is open

Online banking

Not stated

Checks

Not stated

Debit card

Not stated

After the grantor dies: the successor trustee at Wells Fargo

Death certificate

Certified copy

Trust's own EIN

Not stated

The account

Not stated

Online banking

Not stated

Appointment

Not stated

Wells Fargo's Estate Care Center covers the successor limb only as part of its deceased-customer procedure: the successor trustee brings a certified death certificate and a Certification of Trustee naming the successor (the bank's own form or a third-party one), and in some circumstances the trust agreement section naming the successor; the account "can be closed or retitled." The Estate Care Center line is 1-888-790-7980 (Monday through Friday 8:00 a.m. to 8:30 p.m. Eastern Time). Nothing is published about a post-death EIN, online access for the successor, or whether an appointment is required.

What to know at Wells Fargo

Wells Fargo publishes no page on opening or retitling a consumer deposit account to a revocable living trust. That it titles deposit accounts to trusts rests on three of its own sentences: the Business Schedule and Premier Checking page name a "trustee of the Premier Checking ... account" as an owner category; the Deposit Account Agreement lists "Death of the grantor of a revocable family/living trust" as a CD early-withdrawal exception; and the business deposit-account documents page lists "For Trusts: Certification of Trust". The Certification of Trust requirement and the branch channel come from the BUSINESS deposit-account documents page, which covers trusts among its entities; no consumer page states what a grantor brings, which taxpayer number the account is opened under, whether an existing account can be retitled, or whether co-trustees must all appear. The bank's own "Certification of Trustee form (Wells Fargo or Third-Party)" is named on the Estate Care Center checklist but is not posted on wellsfargo.com. Fees for a trust-owned account are not stated in either fee schedule.