Choose a trustee checklist: the twelve steps in order

A choose a trustee checklist keeps a weighty decision orderly. Choosing a trustee in Switzerland means deciding who will hold and administer assets for other people, often for decades, so the sequence matters as much as the answers. This page gives you twelve steps, from writing down what you need to the moment the chosen trustee accepts office. It is built to be printed, filled in by hand and kept in your file.

It is general information, not advice. Several steps depend on where you live, where your beneficiaries live and what the trust holds, and those points call for an individual analysis.

How to use this page

Work through the steps in order. Each one produces something you can write down: a need, a name, a document, a yes or no. Candidates are compared on the same sheet, so that a persuasive meeting does not outweigh a missing approval.

If you are replacing an existing trustee rather than choosing a first one, the same steps apply, with extra ones around the handover; see changing trustee step by step. For the reasoning behind each criterion, the decision method for choosing a trustee in Switzerland goes deeper.

The printable checklist

Print this list and tick each line only when you hold the evidence, not when you have been told it is fine.

• Step 1: write down your objectives and what the trust must do for each beneficiary
• Step 2: list the assets and the countries involved
• Step 3: decide which powers you wish to reserve and whether a protector will take part
• Step 4: choose the type of trustee you are looking for
• Step 5: draw up a longlist of candidates from independent sources
• Step 6: verify each candidate's authorisation and supervisory body
• Step 7: confirm the management team and its qualifications
• Step 8: send the same due diligence questions to every candidate
• Step 9: ask how conflicts of interest and continuity are handled
• Step 10: obtain the fee model in writing and compare structures
• Step 11: score the candidates on one sheet and record the reasons
• Step 12: agree the terms, complete onboarding and obtain written acceptance of office

The steps explained

Stage one: define the need (steps 1 to 3)

Step 1, objectives. State in plain words what the trust is for: providing for a spouse, keeping a business together, supporting a vulnerable relative. A trustee cannot be judged against a goal you have not written.

Step 2, assets and countries. Note the nature of the assets and where you, the beneficiaries and the assets are located. Shares in an operating company, property abroad or a portfolio at a bank each call for different skills.

Step 3, powers and protector. Decide what you want to keep for yourself and whether a third person should be able to supervise or replace the trustee. The trustee, protector and beneficiary triangle explains how these roles interact, and reserved powers shows what retaining control can mean in practice.

Stage two: build the longlist (steps 4 and 5)

Step 4, type of trustee. An individual and a corporate trustee do not offer the same continuity or the same oversight. Individual or corporate trustee sets out how to decide.

Step 5, candidates. Take names from more than one source: your lawyer, your accountant, an unrelated adviser, the published supervisory lists. Avoid a longlist drawn only from the introductions of one intermediary, who may have a stake in the outcome.

Stage three: check the approval (steps 6 and 7)

Step 6, authorisation. In Switzerland, a professional trustee is a regulated financial institution. Ask for the authorisation and the name of the supervisory body, then check them yourself against the public lists. The next section explains what you are looking for.

Step 7, management. Ask who sits on the management team and what training and experience they have. A firm may be authorised while the person you will actually deal with is a junior member of staff; ask who will be your day-to-day contact and who covers when that person is away.

Stage four: due diligence (steps 8 and 9)

Step 8, one questionnaire. Send identical questions to each candidate and keep the written answers. The trustee due diligence questionnaire provides a ready set, and due diligence on your trustee explains why each question is there.

Step 9, conflicts and continuity. Ask what happens if the trustee is also your banker, your adviser or a director of a company the trust owns. Ask too what happens if the person running your file leaves or falls ill; see continuity planning when the trustee is not there.

Stage five: compare and decide (steps 10 and 11)

Step 10, fee model. Ask for the fee model in writing and compare how it works rather than chasing the lowest headline. Fees depend on the structure and are given after a confidential assessment, which is why a structure-by-structure comparison is more reliable than a quoted figure. How trustees are paid lays out the usual models.

Step 11, the scoring sheet. Give each criterion a weight before you meet anyone, then score each candidate and write one sentence of reasoning per line. If two candidates tie, return to step 1 and ask which one serves the stated objective better.

Stage six: accept office (step 12)

Step 12, acceptance. The choice is not final until the trustee has agreed the terms, completed its onboarding and accepted office in writing. Keep the signed acceptance with the trust deed.

One filled-in row

Here is a single row from a scoring sheet, completed for an invented family. It is an illustration only: a family established in Lausanne is choosing a corporate trustee for a trust that will hold shares in a family workshop.

A pass on the first row only keeps a candidate in the race. The remaining rows (experience with operating companies, continuity, conflicts, fee structure) decide who wins.

What the law fixes, and what it leaves to you

The Swiss rules give you a baseline to check against, not a ranking. Under Article 17 paragraph 2 of the FinIA (LEFin), a trustee is anyone who, on a professional basis, manages a separate estate or disposes of it for a beneficiary or for a stated purpose, on the basis of a trust deed within the meaning of the 1985 Hague Convention. Article 3 treats an activity as professional when it is an independent economic activity carried out to obtain a regular income.

Article 2 paragraph 1 letter b lists trustees among the financial institutions, alongside asset managers. A trustee with its seat or domicile in Switzerland must, under Article 18, be a sole proprietorship, a commercial company or a cooperative, and be entered in the commercial register. Article 20 requires the management to include at least two qualified persons, and Article 22 sets minimum capital at CHF 100,000, paid in cash, with appropriate guarantees or professional liability insurance.

Supervision is layered. Under Article 61, trustees are subject to FINMA, which involves a supervisory body, and day-to-day supervision is carried out by the supervisory bodies that FINMA has authorised. Article 62 adds an annual audit by an audit firm. FINMA grants the authorisation; the supervisory body then verifies on an ongoing basis that the conditions are met, and changes in the facts must be notified to it in advance.

FINMA's published list of authorised trustees names, among others, OSFINcontrol AG, AOOS, SO-FIT and OSIF as supervisory bodies. SO-FIT is a non-profit association authorised by FINMA, acting both as a self-regulatory organisation for anti-money-laundering purposes and as a prudential supervisory body. For what this means in practice, read FINMA and SO-FIT: what trustee approval means for you.

FINMA also publishes a list of authorised supervisory bodies and a list of institutions supervised directly by FINMA, which are Swiss group companies under the FinIA. A candidate that appears on none of these lists needs a clear explanation before you go further.

What the law does not tell you is whether a trustee suits your family. Temperament, responsiveness and willingness to say no belong to your own assessment, which is why the checklist keeps them in separate steps.