No commissions, no ads, no advice. This Wilmington Trust profile draws only on public records, each linked so you can confirm it yourself.
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Check the SEC adviser record. Open the SEC's IAPD record for Wilmington Trust (CRD #106909) and confirm its registration.
Read the filings. Review the Form ADV / Form CRS and any disclosure section linked from the IAPD page.
Confirm the entity. Match CRD #106909 / Wilmington Trust Investment Advisors so you're reading the right firm.
The short answer: is Wilmington Trust a fiduciary?
Yes. Wilmington Trust is a fiduciary when it acts as your investment adviser. Publicly, it files with the SEC as Wilmington Trust Investment Advisors (CRD #106909). According to its latest Form ADV (filed August 27, 2026), the firm reported $17.8 billion in regulatory assets under management (a firm-reported figure). All of it sits on the public record, and confirming it for yourself takes only a few minutes.
Its Form ADV also reports that a related person is a broker-dealer (Item 7.A), and brokerage accounts fall under Regulation Best Interest instead. If you hold more than one account with the firm, get the answer in writing: which standard covers each one?
Our take: for an individual, an early thing to pin down is which Wilmington Trust entity holds your account, because this adviser's own client list is mostly institutions (see the client table below).
What "fiduciary" means: a fiduciary is legally bound to place a client's interests above its own. (More on fiduciary duty)
Wilmington Trust at a glance
✅ Verified from public filings, last checked October 5, 2026. Wilmington Trust (SEC CRD #106909) is a fiduciary when acting as your adviser, on an advisory-fee basis, with $17.8 billion in regulatory assets under management. Every figure below links to its primary source.
What | Wilmington Trust | Source |
|---|---|---|
SEC CRD | #106909 | |
Registration | Investment adviser, with a related person that is a broker-dealer (Form ADV Item 7.A) | |
Registered since | December 27, 1995 (SEC) | |
Fiduciary? | Yes, when acting as your adviser | |
Fee model | Advisory fees (no commissions reported in Item 5.E) | Form ADV Item 5.E |
How it's paid | % of AUM and fixed fees (see fees section) | Form ADV Item 5.E |
Regulatory Assets Under Management | $17.8 billion (Form ADV filed August 27, 2026) | |
Client accounts | 3,540 (3,520 discretionary) | |
Employees | 104 (74 in advisory roles) | |
Ownership | Parent-owned | |
Disclosures | Form ADV answers Yes to one or more disciplinary questions. Read them on IAPD | |
HQ | Wilmington, DE |
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Wilmington Trust fees: what you'll pay
Wilmington Trust charges advisory fees: according to its Form ADV (Item 5.E), it is paid as a percentage of assets under management and through fixed fees, with no commissions reported for its advisory services. Its filing also reports broker-dealer, insurance or other sales activity by the firm or a related company, business that can be paid by commissions. Ask how each part of the relationship is paid. The details are in its Form ADV Part 2A.
Advisory fees are what clients pay the adviser directly. Commissions earned through a related broker-dealer or insurance business are a separate source of pay. A percentage-of-assets fee rises as your balance rises, while a fixed fee doesn't, so ask which one applies to your account. For background, see Fee-only financial advisor: costs and how to find one and Are you paying too much? Why that might be the wrong question.
Who owns Wilmington Trust, and what conflicts does it disclose?
Wilmington Trust is owned by Manufacturers and Traders Trust Company, as listed in Schedule A of its Form ADV. (Form ADV Schedule A)
Its Form ADV Part 2A describes the firm's conflicts of interest, including how it and its advisers are paid.
Wilmington Trust SEC record: disclosures
Wilmington Trust's Form ADV answers Yes to one or more disciplinary-history questions. A disclosure can be a regulatory, civil or criminal matter involving the firm or a related person. Read each item in context on IAPD before drawing conclusions. Whatever Wilmington Trust disclosures exist live on the public record. Read them there, in context, rather than secondhand. Because a related person is a broker-dealer, FINRA's BrokerCheck is a second place to search.
On the record, the firm has been registered with the SEC since December 27, 1995, makes notice filings in 17 jurisdictions, and reports 104 employees, 74 of them (about 71%) in investment advisory roles. If you're asking "is Wilmington Trust legit?", start with registration: a public CRD and filings anyone can pull. More than 30 years of SEC registration answers whether the firm exists. It says nothing about the fee you'll be quoted.
Reading Wilmington Trust reviews against the public record
Star ratings and client comments describe what working with a firm felt like. With Wilmington Trust there's an extra wrinkle: the name covers more than this one SEC-registered adviser. According to Item 5.D, this entity counts just 6 high-net-worth individual clients, holding about 0.2% of its assets, while charities, pension plans, governments and businesses make up most of the rest. A review written by an individual customer may describe a different part of the wider organization. Before you weigh Wilmington Trust reviews, check three things from the public record. First, how the firm is paid: it reports advisory fees and no commissions, but it has a broker-dealer or insurance connection. Second, who owns it and what conflicts it discloses. Third, whether its Form ADV reports any disciplinary history. Read reviews alongside the record, not instead of it.
How to verify Wilmington Trust yourself
Each step needs only the CRD number:
SEC adviser record (IAPD): https://adviserinfo.sec.gov/firm/summary/106909.
Form ADV / CRS: linked from the IAPD page.
Confirm the entity: match Wilmington Trust (CRD #106909, legal name Wilmington Trust Investment Advisors) so you're reading the right firm.
Comparing it with another firm? Browse the Truthifi /advisors hub.
What Wilmington Trust does and who it serves
On its Form ADV, Wilmington Trust reports providing portfolio management for individuals and small businesses, portfolio management (investment companies), portfolio management for businesses and institutions, pension consulting, selection of other advisers, and newsletters.
Its Form ADV (Item 5.D) breaks its clients down by type, about 155 in all. The asset column adds up to roughly $17.8 billion, in line with the firm's reported total:
Client type | Clients | Assets managed |
|---|---|---|
High-net-worth individuals | 6 | $36.5 million |
Investment companies | 1 | $1.60 billion |
Pension and profit-sharing plans | 21 | $3.62 billion |
Charities | 49 | $1.55 billion |
State or municipal government entities | 15 | $2.61 billion |
Insurance companies | 8 | $327.7 million |
Corporations or other businesses | 49 | $1.27 billion |
Other | 6 | $6.82 billion |
Two rows carry most of the weight. The 6 clients filed as "Other" account for $6.82 billion, about 38% of assets; the form does not break out what that category contains. Pension and profit-sharing plans add about 20%.
It reports 3,540 client accounts, more than the roughly 155 clients counted above, since many clients hold more than one account. Of those, 3,520 (about 99.4%) are discretionary, meaning the firm can trade without seeking your approval first, and 20 are non-discretionary (Item 5.F). Its main office is in Wilmington, DE.
It reports it does not itself take custody of client assets, though a related person does (Form ADV Item 9.B).
If you're an individual client, that custody line and the "Other" row point to the same question: which affiliate holds your money, and which one advises on it? Those may not be the same company.
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The hard part isn't checking the firm. It's seeing your whole financial life.
Confirming Wilmington Trust is registered takes a few minutes. An advisor is limited by what they can see. An old IRA, a spouse's portfolio and fees buried below a standard statement often sit outside that view. This is where Truthifi comes in.
How Truthifi can help
Truthifi links your accounts read-only and shows what you own, how it's allocated, how it's performing and where the risk sits, including single-stock exposure, returns next to a benchmark, a fee breakdown of the fees on each account, by type, and your Truthifi Score. You can share the accounts you choose with your advisor at Wilmington Trust.
For a Wilmington Trust client paying a percentage of assets, the advisory fee and the fund costs inside the portfolio can show up in different places. If you'd rather work through your own AI assistant, paid Truthifi plans can connect one that supports MCP sign-in, such as Claude (how to ask AI about your real investment accounts). Truthifi Connect is the lighter membership for people who only want their own assistant. Asking about your fees takes Monitoring or Monitoring Plus+.
Ask AI about your Wilmington Trust accounts
Once your accounts are connected read-only, you can ask in plain English:
"What do I own across my Wilmington Trust accounts and everything else, and how is it allocated?"
"What am I paying in fees across all of these accounts?"
Try it with Truthifi: start for free at app.truthifi.com and run a Monitoring Checkup (limits apply).
No commissions, no ads, no advice: Truthifi is not an investment adviser and doesn't give investment, tax or legal advice. Its access to your bank and brokerage accounts is read-only. Start free (limits apply). Monitoring Checkup is free and, per Truthifi platform data, links up to 10 connections. Plans and limits are on the pricing page → truthifi.com.
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FAQ
Is Wilmington Trust a fiduciary? Yes, when acting as your adviser. Its Form ADV reports a related person that is a broker-dealer, and brokerage accounts fall under Regulation Best Interest instead. Ask which capacity covers each of your accounts.
Is Wilmington Trust fee-only? Not necessarily. Its Form ADV (Item 5.E) reports no commissions for advisory services, but the filing also reports broker-dealer, insurance or other sales activity by the firm or a related company, which can be paid differently. Ask how everyone you deal with is paid. The details are in its Form ADV Part 2A.
Who owns Wilmington Trust? Wilmington Trust is owned by Manufacturers and Traders Trust Company, as listed in Schedule A of its Form ADV.
Does Wilmington Trust have complaints or disclosures? Yes. Its Form ADV answers Yes to one or more disciplinary-history questions. Read each item on IAPD, in context. A disclosure is not by itself proof of current wrongdoing.
Is Wilmington Trust legit? Wilmington Trust is registered with the SEC (CRD #106909) and its filings are public on the SEC's IAPD site, which confirms it is a real, regulated firm. Registration doesn't tell you whether it's the right fit or what you'll pay, so read the fee and conflict sections of its Form ADV.
Can AI help me check whether I'm getting good value? Yes. Start free (limits apply): Monitoring Checkup is free and lets you link up to 10 connections. You can also connect an AI assistant you already use (such as Claude). On Monitoring or Monitoring Plus+ you can ask it, in plain English, about the fees on each of your accounts. Truthifi is not an investment adviser and doesn't give investment, tax or legal advice.
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About this profile
Truthifi built this profile from the firm's own SEC filings (Form ADV and, where filed, Form CRS). Every page is reviewed by the Truthifi Team before publishing. The Truthifi advisor fact packs are an ongoing series checking U.S. investment advisers against their public filings, one firm at a time.
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A note on sources. The facts on this page come from publicly available documents, Wilmington Trust's SEC filings, each linked inline so you can verify it yourself (SEC data current as of October 5, 2026). This is general information, not financial or legal advice, and Truthifi is not affiliated with Wilmington Trust. Regulatory records change, so always confirm against the official sources linked above. Spot something that should be corrected? Email us at support@truthifi.com.
Disclaimer: This article is for educational purposes only and does not constitute financial, tax, or legal advice. It should not be construed as a personalized recommendation regarding any investment, financial advisor, or financial product. All calculations use hypothetical scenarios and historical return assumptions; actual results will vary. Past performance does not guarantee future results. Consult a qualified financial professional for guidance specific to your situation. Truthifi is an investment monitoring platform — not a financial advisor, broker-dealer, or tax professional. Truthifi does not manage assets, recommend investments, sell financial products, or provide personalized financial advice. Truthifi earns no revenue from advisor referrals, product commissions, or AUM fees. Statistics and data cited reflect publicly available sources current as of the article’s publication date. Sources are linked throughout.