Aduna Capital manages investment accounts owned by trusts, inherited IRAs and estate accounts: we invest according to the trust's terms and the beneficiaries' actual needs, coordinate with your estate attorney and CPA, and help trustees — often a family member doing this for the first time — meet their own duty to invest prudently. We manage the investments; we do not draft trusts or give legal advice.
Who this is for
Three situations arrive at this page. A family has set up a living trust and needs the investment accounts retitled and managed inside it. An adult child has been named successor trustee — usually with no training — and is now legally responsible for investing someone else's money prudently. Or a family has inherited accounts, often including an inherited IRA with its own withdrawal clock, and wants it handled correctly rather than quickly. We do this work in English and Spanish, which matters when the beneficiaries and the trustee don't share a first language.
What happens, step by step
- Read the document. The trust's distribution terms and any investment restrictions come first — the portfolio has to serve what the document says, not a generic model.
- Map the people. Current beneficiaries who need income and remainder beneficiaries who need growth often pull in opposite directions; California's prudent investor standard requires balancing both, and we build the portfolio to do it.
- Title and consolidate. Accounts are opened or retitled at the custodian in the trust's or estate's name, with the paperwork handled alongside your attorney.
- Invest and document. A written investment policy, then ongoing discretionary management — with the documentation a trustee can show beneficiaries, or a court, if ever asked.
- Coordinate. Inherited-IRA distribution deadlines, trust tax rates and distribution decisions are worked through with your CPA and attorney each year.
What it costs
The same published schedule as every account we manage — trusts don't pay a premium here. Our investment-management fee is up to 2.00% of the assets we manage per year, subject to negotiation, generally billed quarterly in arrears and disclosed in writing before we begin. The firm may waive all or part of its fee. Brokerage, transaction, fund and ETF expenses may apply separately. The complete published schedule →
What this does not include
- No legal work. We do not draft or amend trusts or wills, and nothing here is legal advice — that is your estate attorney's role, and if you don't have one we can suggest questions to ask when choosing one.
- No tax preparation. Trust and estate returns (Form 1041 and relatives) stay with your CPA; we supply the account data they need.
- No serving as your trustee. We manage investments for trustees; we don't take on the trustee role itself.
Common questions
Do trust accounts cost more?
No — the same published schedule as every account we manage. Our fee is 1.5%–2.0% of the assets we manage per year, billed quarterly and itemised on your statement. There is no minimum to open an account and a $50 monthly deposit minimum after that. We take no commissions and no payments from any fund company or platform. The published schedule →
Do you draft or amend trusts?
No. That is your estate attorney's role, and nothing on this site is legal advice. If you don't have one, we can suggest questions to ask when choosing one.
What changes when the grantor dies?
Usually the trust's tax status, its trustee, and often the investment mandate. We work with the successor trustee and the attorney so the account follows the document, not habit.
Named trustee, or sorting an inheritance?
You don't have to know the vocabulary — bring the document and the questions. Free, fifteen minutes, either language.