STEP: Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners

STEP is the global professional body for practitioners working in trusts, estates and succession. It matters to families rather than to advisers alone, because the letters TEP after someone's name are one of the few credentials in this field that carry a defined meaning.

Who joins

The membership is lawyers, accountants, trustees, tax specialists and other practitioners advising on how wealth passes between generations. The badge on this listing marks it as an advisers and professionals body.

STEP's branch network is the clearest picture of its reach. Branches run across the United Kingdom and Ireland, throughout continental Europe, in most of the offshore centres including Jersey, Guernsey, the Isle of Man, Bermuda, the Cayman Islands and the British Virgin Islands, across North and South America, and through Asia-Pacific from Hong Kong and Singapore to Australia and New Zealand. Cross-border succession is precisely the ground STEP occupies.

How membership works

Membership is graded, and the routes to full status are what give the credential its value.

Practitioners can join at student or affiliate level and work up to full membership, and therefore to TEP status, through STEP's examination route or its essay route. Those with at least five years of experience plus a relevant qualification may apply directly through the essay route. Those with at least ten years of senior-level experience plus a relevant qualification may apply through the expertise route. In several countries, including Australia, Austria, Italy, Monaco, South Africa and the United States, a previously completed accredited course can lead straight to full membership.

Fees vary by country and by grade and are set at branch level rather than published centrally, so the figure depends on where you are and how you join. Ask the branch covering your jurisdiction.

What this means for a family

STEP is the rare case where the useful action is not joining but checking.

Advising on trusts and cross-border estates is a field where the cost of poor advice is measured in decades, and where in many jurisdictions anyone may offer it. The TEP designation tells you that the person either passed examinations or documented substantial senior experience and was assessed on it. STEP maintains a public directory, searchable by country and jurisdiction.

Members also get branch meetings, specialist conferences, technical communities and continuing education, which is how the profession keeps pace with tax and trust law that changes constantly and rarely in the same direction twice.