Many trust instruments require the use of a corporate trustee. Historically, a corporate trustee's duties have fallen into two categories:

1. Trust administration, including tax filings; principal and income accounting; and trust distributions.
2. Investment management.

Understandably, most trust beneficiaries tend to focus on the investment management-side of the equation, but a corporate trustee's primary function rests with the coordination of administrative issues, especially as it relates to the myriad of state and federal regulatory reporting requirements.

Adhering to its client-centric philosophy, Hardesty Capital Management has formulated an unbundled approach to providing trust services. In fact, we have partnered with some of the finest financial institutions in the world—Fidelity, IBT, AST and Merrill Lynch—who can fulfill the corporate trustee requirement, while relinquishing investment management responsibilities to us. This arrangement enables us to serve as the "point of contact" on the administrative end, while shifting the emphasis to where trust beneficiaries are most interested—investment performance.