Santa Clarita Living Trust Lawyer

Trust Administration - Assisting the Trustee

Revocable Living Trusts are becoming very popular as an effective way to avoid probate, possibly minimize taxes for married couples, and manage finances without court intervention in the event of incapacity or illness. However, many people are not familiar with the “administration” tasks of the trust once someone passes away or becomes incapacitated.

If a person establishes a trust and then becomes incapacitated, the named successor trustee has certain duties and responsibilities in managing the trust assets properly for the incapacitated person. Numerous legal responsibilities face the successor trustee, who is often an adult son or daughter named in the trust document. The new trustee usually requires legal assistance in properly handling their new duties as trustee. Failure to abide by the multitude of legal requirements sometimes result in legal liability for the successor trustee.

If the person has passed away, trust administration involves the process of properly identifying and collecting the trust assets, legal notification to the beneficiaries (even if they are all family members), identification and payment of legitimate debts, providing trustee accountings of the trust financial activities, fiduciary tax returns, and valuation of assets for possible estate tax returns and ultimately proper distribution to the beneficiaries. If a spouse has passed away, the surviving spouse must revisit the terms of the trust to determine what, if any, action must be taken due to the death.