Betsy Tedrow Discusses Trust Administration and Compliance and the Role of the Trust Company

Betsy Tedrow spoke at Washburn University School of Law on February 14, 2018 during a Lunch and Learn presentation sponsored by the Business and Transactional Law Center and hosted by the Tax and Estate Planning Association student organization. Tedrow works with trust and investment management clients as the Senior Vice President and Trust Administrative Officer at Country Club Trust Company in Kansas City, Missouri. She began her trust career working as a trust examiner, holding positions for seventeen years at the Federal Reserve Banks of Kansas City and St. Louis, where she examined both large and small trust institutions throughout the Midwest and the nation. Tedrow also worked as the senior compliance officer for the trust division of UMB Bank and gained experience in employee benefits while working as a staff attorney for Fringe Benefits Designs, a Kansas City employee-benefits company.

In addition to her compliance expertise, Tedrow has served as corporate counsel for the Greater Kansas City Community Foundation. She received her undergraduate and law degrees from the University of Kansas, as well as her LL.M. in elder law. She is a member of the bars in both Kansas and Missouri, the National Association of Elder Law Attorneys (NAELA), the Kansas City Estate Planning Society, the Mid-America Planned Giving Council, and the Fiduciary Investment Risk Management Association (FIRMA).

During her Washburn Law presentation Tedrow spoke with students about her career path and thirty years of experience in the practice of trusts and estates. She enjoys interfacing with clients because of the variety of people she gets to interact with who are on different walks of life and have different goals. Tedrow also explained that while her job deals with a lot of technical legal aspects, there is also a great deal of psychological experience she has gained throughout her career dealing with different client needs and personalities. Tedrow stated that her job is especially gratifying when she feels she is helping and successfully advising how money should be handled.

Finally, Tedrow spoke about the substantial benefits of using a trust management company rather than family members. She detailed how important and helpful it is to have a trustee with expertise, investment education, and no emotional connection to the matter. She mentioned it is especially easier on the family when a third party is tasked with navigating the hard issues rather than having a trustee with "skin in the game" who has to deal with the pressures that arise at the intersection of family and money.

The Business and Transactional Law Center thanks Betsy Tedrow for taking time from her busy schedule to speak with students about this real-world issue in legal practice.