Trust Administration
Trust administration can be complex and the people you have designated to manage your trust, known as “Trustees”, when you are no longer able to do so must have competent and experienced counsel to guide them through the process. They must make important decisions – sometimes quickly – and they need help to make them wisely. They may need to prepare inventories of your property, prepare tax returns, or sign other important documents on your behalf. Ultimately upon your death, they must divide and distribute your property to those individuals or charities you identified in your will or trust agreement.
A living trust is a legal document that, just like a will, contains your instructions for what you want to happen to your assets when you die. But, unlike a will, a living trust can avoid probate at death, and can also be in control all of your assets and prevent the court from controlling your assets if you become incapacitated.
Upon the death of a trust maker our law firm offers legal services to your successor trustee. The trustee is responsible for seeing that the assets of the trust are distributed properly and in a timely manner. An overview of the valuable guidance we provide includes:
- Review of the trust document
- Gathering of all trust assets
- Explanation of trustee responsibilities
- Estate Tax Analysis
- Collection of death benefits
- Creation of sub-trusts
- Dissolution of trust
The trust administration process carries a lot of responsibilities. We can help guide your loved ones through the process as sensitively and completely as possible, and will try to make it as straightforward and efficient as possible.