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You act for a family, perhaps as a lawyer, an accountant, an independent adviser or a family office, and the question has landed on your desk: who should be the trustee? Finding a trustee for a family office client is not the same as finding a supplier. The person you introduce will hold legal title to the assets, owe duties to the beneficiaries and, in practice, become part of the family's life for decades.
This page is written from the adviser's chair. It covers what to ask a trustee before you introduce one, what to put in a referral brief, and which roles must stay separate so that your client's trust is not weakened by the way it was set up.
Why the introduction needs a brief
A casual introduction ("I know someone in Geneva") tends to fail in predictable ways. The client assumes you have vetted the trustee; the trustee assumes you have vetted the client; and nobody has written down who is responsible for what. A short referral brief fixes this before the first meeting.
A good brief answers four questions: who is the client and what do they want the trust to achieve, which assets and which countries are involved, who else advises the family, and what you expect to remain your own job afterwards. It is a working document, not a sales document, and it should contain no more personal data than the trustee needs at that stage.
If the client has not yet settled the broader method, point them to how to choose a trustee in Switzerland before you shortlist anyone.
What an adviser should ask the trustee
Your questions should test the trustee, not flatter them. Group them around five themes.
Authorisation and supervision
Ask which licence the firm holds, who supervises it, and which individuals are responsible. Under the Swiss financial institutions framework (FinIA / LEFin / FINIG), trustees are regulated, and the practical meaning of that status is explained in FINMA and SO-FIT: what trustee approval means for you. Ask for confirmation in writing rather than relying on a website.
Independence and conflicts
Does the trustee also sell investment products, run a bank, or receive anything from introducers? A trustee who pays or rewards referrers has a conflict you must disclose to your client. Ask directly, and keep the answer on file.
Capacity and continuity
Who will actually handle the trust day to day, and what happens if that person leaves or falls ill? Read continuity planning when the trustee is not there and ask the trustee to show how their own arrangements work.
Reporting
What will the family and you receive, how often, and in what form? Compare this with the information your trustee must give you.
Experience with comparable families
Not names, but profiles: multi-country families, operating businesses, mixed generations. Ask how the trustee handled a disagreement between a protector and the trustee, without identifying anyone.
What to share, and when
Share in layers. At the first stage the trustee needs the shape of the situation: the settlor's country of residence, the countries of the likely beneficiaries, the broad nature of the assets and the intended type of trust. Names, identity documents and source-of-wealth evidence come later, once both sides have decided to go ahead.
Do not send a trustee a client's full file by default. Money laundering rules (AMLA / LBA / GwG) will require the trustee to identify the settlor and the beneficial owner, and the trustee will ask for what it needs. Handing over everything in advance only spreads sensitive data wider than necessary.
Always tell the client what you are sharing, and with whom. If the client wants confidentiality at the introduction stage, say so in the brief and let the trustee confirm how it handles enquiries.
What to keep apart
The most useful discipline for an adviser is separating roles. The diagram below sets out the usual division.
Three separations deserve emphasis.
Adviser and trustee. If you sit on the trust as trustee or protector while also advising the settlor, you blur duties that the law treats differently. Where the adviser also holds a seat, the structure should say so openly. See the trustee, protector and beneficiary triangle and working with a protector.
Introducer and decision-maker. You introduce; the client chooses. A trustee should never be able to say that the adviser selected them on the client's behalf without a documented decision.
Family office and trustee. A family office often manages investments and reporting. The trustee remains responsible for the trust's assets even where tasks are delegated. Who instructs the bank, and who signs, should be settled before anything moves; see your trustee and the trust bank accounts.
Example: a lawyer introducing a client
Illustration only. A lawyer in Lausanne acts for an entrepreneur who has family in more than one country and wants to move an existing trust from an offshore trustee to Switzerland. The lawyer does not want to pick the trustee alone.
She drafts a one-page brief: the client's goals, the countries involved, the type of trust, the current trustee's name withheld, and the questions she wants answered. She invites two or three trustees to respond in writing. She also asks the client's accountant to review the answers for tax consequences, because that is not the lawyer's brief or the trustee's.
After a first meeting, the client scores the candidates on authorisation, independence, continuity and communication. The lawyer records her own role in a short engagement note and discloses that she receives nothing from any of them. The same pattern appears in the case a trust moves from an offshore trustee to Geneva and in a founder scoring three candidate trustees.
What a trustee can and cannot bring
A trustee can give a family a formal structure: assets held on the terms of a deed, decisions recorded, accounts kept and beneficiaries treated according to the deed. A well-run trust can also support family governance, including meetings and a clear process for succession.
A trustee cannot remove the need for advice in each country involved. The governing law of a trust follows the settlor's choice or, failing that, the closest connection, and Switzerland recognises foreign trusts under the Hague Trust Convention. But mandatory rules on inheritance can still apply, and the Convention itself preserves them. Outcomes depend on residence, the beneficiaries' countries, the nature of the assets and the canton, which is why an individual analysis is needed.
For the facts that matter here, the Federal Office of Justice confirms that foreign trusts have been recognised in Switzerland since 1 July 2007. Under the Convention, a trust is governed by the law its settlor chose, expressly or implicitly; failing that, by the law with which it has the closest links. If the chosen law does not know the trust, the choice has no effect.
Alternatives to consider with your client
A trust is not always the answer. Depending on the family, a will, an inheritance agreement or a foundation may fit better. Swiss succession law was revised and the revised rules entered into force on 1 January 2023, and the Federal Office of Justice presents the reform as allowing people to dispose more freely of a larger part of their estate. That may change the conversation about whether a trust is needed at all. Detailed tax and succession advice sits with the family's specialists, not with this page.
If the real question is who should look after assets, compare a trustee with a foundation council. If the client already has a trust and doubts the trustee, consider switching trustee or staying and fixing.
Checklist before you make the introduction
- Record your own role, and any benefit you receive from the introduction
- Write a one-page brief with goals, countries and asset types, without full personal data
- Ask each trustee for authorisation details and the named individuals responsible
- Ask about conflicts, introducer arrangements and continuity cover
- Agree who instructs the bank, who signs and who reports to whom
- Involve the family's tax and succession advisers before any asset moves
- Keep the final choice, and its reasons, in the client's hands and on file
For a fuller question list, see the trustee due diligence questionnaire.
Frequently asked questions
Can I receive a payment for introducing a client to a trustee?
Some introducers do, but it must be disclosed to the client in writing, and you should check your own professional rules. A trustee who rewards referrers has a conflict that the client is entitled to know about. If in doubt, decline the benefit and keep your independence clear.
Should I be a protector or a co-trustee of my client's trust?
It is possible, but it blends advice and oversight. The client should understand how the roles overlap, what happens if their interests and the beneficiaries' differ, and how you would step down. Consider the comparison between a trustee with or without a protector.
How much of my client's information should the trustee see before engagement?
Only what is needed to judge fit. Identity and source-of-wealth documents follow once both sides want to proceed. The trustee has legal duties of its own on identification, so expect those requests, but do not volunteer a full file at the outset.
Do I need more than one trustee candidate?
Yes, two or three is a sensible practice. Comparing responses to the same written questions shows differences in clarity, availability and attitude to conflicts, which a single meeting rarely does.
Does choosing a trustee in Switzerland settle which law applies to the trust?
No. The governing law is a separate choice made by the settlor, and a Swiss trustee can administer a trust under a foreign law. Mandatory inheritance rules may still apply in a given case, so each country involved needs advice.
What if the client is unhappy with the trustee later?
Then the question becomes whether to repair or replace. The deed decides who can remove a trustee and who appoints the next one. Read changing trustee step by step and keep your own file complete, so that you can help without taking over the trustee's role.
Sources
Considering a trust, or reviewing one?
Describe your situation in a few lines. A Geneva-based trustee reviews it in confidence and replies in writing.