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Not that it matters for this question, but for people following my life story :), this is a follow up to this question:

Options for Protecting Inheritance Before Death?

So we have created an income-only, irrevocable trust for my mother's estate. The papers were signed yesterday, and we await the closing on her home to fund the trust.

My next step is to open an account to store and invest the trust's funds. "Invest" may be the wrong word, since I only intend to put the funds in very safe vehicles, possibly limited to savings accounts and CDs.

For my own personal finances, I use Fidelity (retirement accounts), which makes it very simple to buy CDs and have the interest just roll back into the account. I don't intend to use a brokerage for the trust for a number of reasons, one of them being that brokerage CD rates tend to be less competitive than bank CD rates. However, the overall experience and ease-of-use of these accounts is pretty much exactly what I'm looking for.

I'd like to know if there are tools or specific banks I should be looking at to simulate the low-overhead experience I get with Fidelity. I don't need the rates to be the absolute best, but they need to be at least competitive. I will also need the ability to write checks, and (even better) the ability to transfer all interest income to my mother's non-trust accounts (automatically would be great!).

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    This reads a bit like a shopping-list question, which are usually considered off topic, since it's hard to fit a product or service recommendation into the Stack Exchange format. You might want to poke around in the help center and see if you can reword this to avoid closure - I see you've already got one close vote, probably for this reason.
    – dwizum
    Commented Nov 15, 2019 at 20:24
  • I disagree with the premise that brokerage CD rates tend to be less competitive than bank CD rates. If your bank decides not to compete, you' have no options. A broker has the ability to shop around the country for best yields. In addition, sometimes a broker can get you a better yield on an existing CD where the owner is willing to sell at a small discount in order to get their money out before maturity and that discount is less than penalty that the issuer would charge. Check with your Fidelity and take a look at Vanguard.
    – Bob Baerker
    Commented Nov 15, 2019 at 20:39
  • @BobBaerker I think they are competitive right now, but see my question here: money.stackexchange.com/questions/20567/….
    – Phil Sandler
    Commented Nov 16, 2019 at 3:13
  • @Phil Sandler - Based on comparing CDs at Fidelity and E*Trade you concluded that broker CDs offer less than bank CDs. Looking at 2 brokers is a finite sample. Wouldn't it stand to reason that broker who scans CDs throughout the country would provide access to the best rates? It's been some time since I did this but Vanguard got me a CD from a bank offering the highest CD yield. I could have gone straight to that bank but if they didn't raise rates as others raised or if they lowered, I'd lose wire/mail time. At the broker, no need to move money. Just find best US CD at next renewal.
    – Bob Baerker
    Commented Nov 16, 2019 at 5:19
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    @Phil Sandler - It's quite possible that it varies over time. It's only a guess but in my modest experience with CDs acquired through brokers, discount brokers had less inventory to offer and full service brokers (a thing of the past) had more and made more effort. Re deleting your own question: You posted a good faith question, asking for information to assist you in the FINANCIAL affairs of your mother's estate and that's PERSONAL. AFAIC, too many questions are deleted because they don't perfectly fit some rigid criteria. Leave it be and let the chips fall where they fall.
    – Bob Baerker
    Commented Nov 16, 2019 at 19:23

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The Fidelity-type broker should be able to handle this pretty easily.

I happen to use Schwab. My Mother in law had me handle her finances when my father in law passed on, about 12 years ago. 4 years ago, she was starting to lose the ability to function on her own, and we sold her house and did exactly what you intend, deposit to a trust. Not that she recently passed away, I remain the trustee, and will write checks (or direct transfer) to my sister in law. In your case, signing in and transferring shouldn't be too big an issue.

TL:DR, you still need to 'invest' the money, even if it mean choosing CDs, money market, etc. I kept a stock/cash mix that outlived my MIL by 2+ years. When my father in law passed, he was convinced that she wouldn't have enough. I promised him I'd take case of his wife and unmarried daughter. One down one to go...

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