Guides › Switching Financial Advisors
Updated September 28, 2026. Quick answer: you open an account at the receiving firm and sign the transfer form there; the new firm pulls the account through ACATS. Washington Trust Advisors, Inc.’s Form ADV Part 2A states “Unless otherwise agreed, a client contract generally may be canceled by the client with at least five (5) days’ written notice, for any reason.” Washington Trust Advisors, Inc. names two possible custodians in its brochure, with no single default: Charles Schwab & Co., and Morgan Stanley Smith Barney LLC. If you are custodied at Schwab, budget $50.00 per account, per Charles Schwab & Co., Inc.’s own current fee schedule. If you are custodied at Morgan Stanley, budget $125.00 per account, per Morgan Stanley Smith Barney LLC’s own current fee schedule.
The published numbers
From Washington Trust Advisors, Inc.’s own Form ADV Part 2A (March 20, 2026), Item 5, Termination of the Advisory Relationship: “Unless otherwise agreed, a client contract generally may be canceled by the client with at least five (5) days’ written notice, for any reason. As disclosed above, certain fees are paid in advance of the services provided.” The same brochure names its custodians (Item 12): “When requested to recommend a custodian for a client, The Adviser generally recommends Charles Schwab.” From Charles Schwab & Co., Inc.’s own Pricing Guide for Clients of Independent Investment Advisors: “Full transfer (out) of assets: $50 per account.” From Morgan Stanley Smith Barney LLC’s own Schedule of Miscellaneous Account and Service Fees: “$125 Per Account Transfer” Washington Trust’s own brochure separately states, in its Legacy Third-Party Money Manager (SAM) program discussion: “These legacy accounts are custodied at Schwab and Morgan Stanley.” Washington Trust may itself act as qualified custodian in its trustee capacity for certain trust accounts, disclosed as a conflict of interest rather than a public fee schedule; left an honest gap rather than guessed.
| What | Figure |
|---|---|
| Washington Trust Wealth Management’s own exit charge | $0.00 extra: pro-rated refund of any prepaid fee (Form ADV) |
| Full transfer-out at Schwab | $50.00 (Charles Schwab & Co., Inc.’s own Pricing Guide for Clients of Independent Investment Advisors) |
| Full transfer-out at Morgan Stanley | $125.00 (Morgan Stanley Smith Barney LLC’s own Schedule of Miscellaneous Account and Service Fees) |
| ACATS validation and completion window | 1 day to validate, 3 days to complete under FINRA Rule 11870 (measured in business days) |
Find the right next step for your situation
About how much do you have invested? Pick the range that fits; your next step appears immediately below.
Your custodian sets the exit fee, not Washington Trust Wealth Management. What you move to decides everything.
If your portfolio is $250,000 or more, this connects you (free, with no obligation to hire anyone) with 2 to 3 vetted advisors.
Before you start, what actually happens. The matching service is run by WiserAdvisor, an independent advisor-matching company. It opens on their site, asks for your ZIP code and a few questions, and matches you with 2 to 3 vetted advisors. It is free to you.
WiserAdvisor states the service is built for portfolios of $250,000 and above. By submitting, you consent to emails, phone calls and text messages from WiserAdvisor and up to three advisors, so expect to be contacted. Clear Money Guide is paid when you complete the form, whether or not you ever hire anyone.
Opens on WiserAdvisor’s site in a new tab.
Your custodian sets the exit fee, not Washington Trust Wealth Management. What you move to decides everything.
Price the destination before you decide. The matching service below introduces you to advisers who pay to meet you.
Before you start, what actually happens. The form is run by Kapitalwise, our advisor-matching partner. Kapitalwise sends your details to advisers who pay for the introduction, so expect calls and texts. Clear Money Guide is paid when you submit the form, whether or not you ever hire anyone. This is free to you and there is no obligation to hire anyone.
The Kapitalwise form opens here; you stay on this page.
What happens when you press the button
It asks about nine questions: age, investable assets, location; then your name, email and phone number, and verifies the phone by text. Nothing loads and nothing reaches Kapitalwise until you press the button.
Prefer flat-fee or hourly pricing instead? Compare ranges here.
Answer againThe sequence
1. Pull a current statement for every account, showing the exact registration, account numbers and complete holdings list. 2. Check the holdings for anything that will not move. Ask the receiving firm directly: “Can you hold every position on this statement?” Anything they cannot hold has to be sold, and in a taxable account that is a realised gain in the year you switch: the categories that commonly do not transfer. 3. Open the receiving account and sign the transfer form there. Under FINRA Rule 11870 the delivering firm then has one business day to validate and three business days after validation to complete. 4. Send a dated termination letter for the record: the generator writes it, and confirm in writing that billing has stopped.
Two things to get right
Cost basis. Under IRC §6045A the delivering broker must furnish a transfer statement carrying basis for covered securities within 15 days of the transfer. Keep your final statements anyway, and check the first statement at the new firm for positions showing a missing or zero basis. Retirement accounts move as a direct transfer, trustee to trustee, not as a distribution to you. Why that distinction matters. Whether a transfer fee is worth paying at all is a question of what you are moving to: our benchmark of published adviser fee schedules puts the weighted median annual cost near $2,000 to $2,500 on $250,000: the benchmark. The general mechanics: switching financial advisors.
Two more advisor-firm exits, each priced from the firm’s own disclosure: Bryn Mawr Trust Advisors and Univest Wealth Management (Girard).
Sources
- Form ADV Part 2A (March 20, 2026): https://files.adviserinfo.sec.gov/IAPD/Content/Common/crd_iapd_Brochure.aspx?BRCHR_VRSN_ID=1022835
- SEC Investment Adviser Public Disclosure, Washington Trust Advisors, Inc. firm summary (CRD 110407): https://adviserinfo.sec.gov/firm/summary/110407
- Charles Schwab, “Pricing Guide for Clients of Independent Investment Advisors” (July 2026): https://disclosures.schwab.com/SchwabDashboard/61256/REG23060SI.pdf
- Morgan Stanley Wealth Management, “Schedule of Miscellaneous Account and Service Fees” (2026): https://www.morganstanley.com/wealth-relationshipwithms/pdfs/account_and_service_fees.pdf
Methodology. This page was built September 28, 2026, drawing on Washington Trust Wealth Management’s own Form ADV/wrap-fee brochure/fee schedule plus each named custodian’s own published fee schedule, with sources linked inline; any figure we could not independently confirm this session on a firm-owned or custodian-owned document is named as an honest gap above rather than presented as verified. Nothing here is personalized financial, tax, legal, or investment advice. See our Editorial Policy, Corrections, Affiliate Disclosure, and Disclaimer.
Ten more exits, from independent RIAs to broker-dealer platforms and digital advisers: Diversified, Fiduciary Financial Advisors, Cornerstone Advisors, Sound Financial Group, Lincoln Investment, Geneos Wealth Management, Capital Analysts, Atomic Invest, Webull Advisors, and Public Advisors.
Leaving a different firm? See the exit guides for all 189 firms, with the four steps every exit shares.