Built for modern private wealth.
Opes is building a proposed Nevada-chartered trust company designed for families whose assets, advisors, and lives do not fit neatly inside a traditional bank.
Our proposed administrative and directed trust model is designed to work alongside the family's existing attorney, RIA, tax advisors, investment managers, and family office.
Built for private and complex assets
Designed for directed trust structures
Advisor- and attorney-aligned
Nevada charter process in development
Founding Partner Program now forming
Keep the attorney, advisor, investment managers, and assets. Add an institutional trustee built for modern family wealth.
The problem
Traditional trust companies were not built for the way modern families hold wealth.
Institutional trust administration was designed around marketable securities held at a single bank. Very little of modern private wealth looks like that.
What families actually hold
- Private-company stock
- Venture and private-equity interests
- Closely held businesses
- Real estate entities
- Concentrated public equity
- Cross-border family members
- Multiple advisors and decision-makers
- Several related trusts and entities
What families and advisors encounter
- Slow or unclear acceptance decisions
- Pressure to move investment management
- Reluctance to administer private assets
- Fragmented communication
- Limited visibility for advisors
- Inconsistent service
- Unclear divisions of responsibility
Solutions
One institutional fiduciary platform. Multiple specialized practices.
Each practice is organized around a category of complexity that families are routinely told cannot be administered.
Founder & Concentrated Equity
Trust structures organized around private-company stock, option exercises, and single-position concentration.
Private Capital & Alternative Assets
Administration designed for fund interests, capital calls, side letters, and long-dated illiquid commitments.
Family Business & Real Estate
Operating companies, LLC interests, and property entities held inside trusts that must keep functioning.
Internationally Connected Families
Cross-border beneficiaries, non-resident settlors, and assets that touch more than one jurisdiction.
Family Governance
Committees, directors, decision records, and the institutional memory that outlasts individuals.
Complexity is not an exception to our model. It is the reason for it.
Operating model
Designed to preserve the family's existing advisory relationships.
The family's attorney continues to provide legal advice and drafting. The investment advisor may continue to manage assets. A distribution director or committee may retain distribution authority. Opes would provide the institutional administrative layer, subject to the governing instrument, applicable law, fiduciary acceptance, and regulatory authorization.
Responsibilities in a directed structure depend entirely on the terms of the trust instrument and the law governing it. There is no single arrangement, and the diagram shown here is illustrative rather than prescriptive.
See how it worksProposed administrative trustee
Opes
Fiduciary administration, recordkeeping, and institutional continuity
Estate-planning attorney
Drafts the instrument. Continues to advise the family on legal matters.
RIA or investment director
May continue to manage or direct the investment of trust assets.
Distribution director or committee
May retain discretionary distribution authority under the instrument.
CPA or tax advisor
Continues tax planning, reporting positions, and return preparation.
Family members and beneficiaries
Receive reporting, submit requests, and participate in governance.
Division of responsibility
Who holds which authority depends entirely on the trust instrument and applicable law. This diagram is illustrative.
For professional partners
A trustee built to work with you—not compete with you.
01
Preserve the advisory relationship
Our proposed model contemplates no required transfer of investment management, no required custody relationship, and no intention to compete with the referring advisor. The family keeps its attorney, its advisor, its managers, and its assets.
02
Evaluate complex assets transparently
We intend to publish the acceptance standards and information requirements for private stock, fund interests, operating businesses, and real estate entities—so partners know where a case stands before drafting begins.
03
Give partners ongoing visibility
Referring professionals should not have to ask what happened. Our proposed digital workflows are designed to give partners appropriate, permissioned visibility into the administration they helped create.
04
Create a permanent fiduciary record
Instruments, appointments, consents, deliberations, and determinations are intended to be preserved as a durable record that outlasts any individual officer, advisor, or generation.
Illustrative product concept
What institutional administration could look like for one family.
The Carter Family is hypothetical: three trusts, one founder-stock position, two venture-fund interests, one family LLC, four beneficiaries, an outside RIA, an estate-planning attorney, and a CPA. Every screen below is a concept, not a live system.
Family structure map
The Carter Family
Carter 2019 Irrevocable Trust
Non-grantor · Nevada
- Founder common stock — Northline Systems
- Cash reserve
2 beneficiaries
Carter Descendants' Trust
Dynasty · Nevada
- Meridian Ventures IV, L.P.
- Harborline Growth II, L.P.
4 beneficiaries
Carter Family Legacy Trust
Grantor · Nevada
- Carter Holdings LLC (family real estate)
- Marketable securities
3 beneficiaries
Trust summary
Carter Descendants' Trust
Situs
Nevada
Structure
Directed
Funded
Illustrative
Perpetuities
365 years
Meridian Ventures IV, L.P.
Unfunded commitment tracked
Committed
Harborline Growth II, L.P.
Capital call window open
Committed
Liquidity reserve
Held for scheduled calls
Reserved
Fiduciary responsibility map
Carter Descendants' Trust
Asset inventory
All Carter Family trusts
Northline Systems — common stock
Founder position · QSBS tracked
Private
Meridian Ventures IV, L.P.
Capital calls · K-1
Fund
Harborline Growth II, L.P.
Capital calls · K-1
Fund
Carter Holdings LLC
Family real estate · 3 properties
Entity
Marketable securities
Managed by Aldergate Capital
Directed
Valuations, balances, and figures are omitted from this concept intentionally.
Upcoming actions
Next 90 days · illustrative
Capital call — Harborline Growth II
Funding coordination
K-1 collection — Meridian Ventures IV
Deliver to CPA
Annual trust review
With attorney and RIA
409A valuation refresh — Northline
Recordkeeping
Beneficiary statement cycle
Quarterly reporting
Distribution request
Beneficiary — E. Carter
Education distribution request
Submitted by beneficiary · routed to distribution committee
- 1Request submittedComplete
- 2Administrative review — OpesComplete
- 3Committee deliberationIn review
- 4Determination recordedPending
- 5Beneficiary notifiedPending
Document vault
Permanent fiduciary record
Trust instrument — Descendants' Trust
Rowan & Fenwick LLP
Executed
Meridian IV subscription package
Includes side letter
Filed
Carter Holdings LLC operating agreement
Amended and restated
Filed
Investment direction appointment
Aldergate Capital
Filed
Committee consents
Distribution committee
Filed
Decision history
Immutable record · illustrative
Distribution — health expense
Committee approved · rationale recorded
Acceptance of Harborline interest
Reviewed against acceptance standards
Successor investment director
Appointment documented
Annual administrative review
No changes to structure
Dates are omitted. This concept illustrates the intended structure of the record, not a live system.
All interface screens, families, entities, advisors, and events shown above are fictional and presented solely to illustrate a proposed service concept. No software described here is currently in operation, and no feature shown should be relied upon as a commitment.
Founding Partner Program
Help shape the next generation of independent trust administration.
Opes is assembling 25 estate-planning, wealth-management, tax, and family-office firms to participate as founding design partners before launch.
- Early input into service design
- Preliminary review of representative cases
- Priority access after regulatory authorization
- Founding pricing consideration
- Dedicated partner contact
- Participation in design workshops
- Early access to partner resources and workflows
Formation roadmap
A regulated institution, built in the order regulated institutions are built.
Opes is in organization. The sequence below describes the path to a Nevada retail trust company charter.
Current phase: organization, partner development, and application preparation
- 01Underway
Organizing group
Founders, organizers, and initial working group formed.
- 02Underway
Regulatory and professional advisors
Legal, compliance, audit, and consulting advisors engaged.
- 03Underway
Capital planning
Capitalization structure and funding plan developed.
- 04In progress
Leadership and board formation
Executive team, directors, and committee structure assembled.
- 05Planned
Charter application
Application prepared and submitted to the State of Nevada.
- 06Planned
Regulatory review
Review, examination, and response to regulator inquiries.
- 07Planned
Operational readiness
Policies, systems, controls, and vendor infrastructure implemented.
- 08Planned
Final authorization
Charter granted and authority to commence business received.
- 09Planned
Client onboarding
Acceptance of trust appointments begins.
Phases are sequential in intent but may overlap or be revised. No dates are shown, and none should be inferred. Completion of any phase does not indicate that a charter will be granted.
Bring us the trust cases that do not fit neatly anywhere else.
If the structure is unusual, the assets are private, or three advisors already have a seat at the table—that is the conversation we want.