I want to address professional trustee’s fees. These are different than lay trustee fees. A lay trustee is a brother or sister or somebody else in the family that is named trustee. A professional trustee is generally a large bank, or it’s a large company that holds themselves out as professional trustees. The question is, […]
Beneficiaries often contact our firm and say that they want a trust accounting. An accounting is a great way to get informed about the trust administration. But not every situation calls for a full-blown accounting. A full formal trust accounting, is a very involved process. There’s a lot that goes into a proper accounting. And, typically, you have to […]
We get the question, time to time, how do I as a trustee make a big decision that impacts the trust from a financial standpoint and get protection for making that decision so that the trust beneficiaries don’t later on down the road sue me for that decision? Here’s a brief example. A trustee is […]
There will be times when a trustee will be managing a trust and they’ll come across a trust asset that simply isn’t worth anything. It could be an interest in a partnership that has gone defunct and is no longer in business. It could be a lot of land out in the middle of the desert […]
In most cases, if a trust has bills that it has to pay or debts that have to be paid off, those things will be paid out of the trust estate by the trustee. One of the trustee’s jobs is to pay for all the expenses and debts of the trust estate. Trust Beneficiaries Do […]
In some instances, a trust document will give a beneficiary the power to remove the trustee. The first thing you should do is take a look at your trust document. Look through the trustee provision and see if there is a provision for removing the trustee. A removal provision would say something to the effect that you, as the […]
We get this question routinely. We have Beneficiaries of a Trust come to us and say, “My brother or sister is the Trustee of the Trust and they’re saying they’re going to take $150,000 in Trustee’s fees. Is that allowed?” And the answer is, “Well, it depends.” And, of course, it depends on the facts and circumstances in the […]
There are two different types of lawsuits that Trustees have to worry about. One is a lawsuit from an outside party. That’s the type of lawsuit that can potentially be filed against anyone. For example, if a real estate transaction goes bad, someone may want to sue the Trust and the Trustee. With that type […]
Who is qualified to act as Trustee? As a basic requirement, a Trustee must be an adult over the age of 18. Additionally, a Trustee must have legal capacity, so obviously a person who is mentally incapacitated would not be able to act as Trustee. Beyond that, almost any adult can be named as a […]
There can be no worse job in the world of estate planning than being a Trustee. It may “sound good” to be in charge of a Trust, but most people have little idea of the duties, responsibilities and potential pitfalls they are undertaking when agreeing to be a Trustee. What is a Trust Document? First, […]
