When it comes to the administration of a trust, a trustee has a variety of important duties to perform. If the trustee fails to perform those duties, they may find themselves facing accusations of mismanagement and may be held liable for not performing certain duties.
When you come to the law firm of Patterson, Hanna & Associates for assistance with the administration of a trust, you can expect hands-on representation.
A Trustee's Obligations
Whether you have become a trustee because the creator of the revocable trust has lacked the capacity to make financial decisions, or because the creator has passed away, our attorneys can help.
When a trust is created and funded, a trustee is responsible for preserving or investing its assets, distributing income to beneficiaries, filing tax returns, and other functions essential to the management of the trust's assets. When the trustee — which is often the trustor as well — under a revocable living trust or A/B trust dies, a successor trustee must be appointed and must perform certain duties under deadlines in order to avoid tax liability and to protect the validity of the trust.
These responsibilities include making sure that the asset protection trust is properly funded and holds title to its ostensible assets, obtaining property values as of the date of death, preparing an inventory of the trustor's property, filing fiduciary tax returns, allocated assets to subtrusts as necessary, making distributions of trust income to beneficiaries and many other duties.
We can assist with the administration of all types of revocable trusts and irrevocable trusts including marital trusts, bypass trusts, exemption trusts, special needs trusts and more.
Trust Accountings
As a trustee, you are required to do full accountings to the beneficiaries. This is necessary to protect yourself from liability by showing the beneficiaries that you are fulfilling your duties in terms of distributions and in terms of taking the necessary steps to preserve the assets of the trust. Our lawyers are here to help you with all trust accountings throughout the years you remain trustee.
Start With a Free Consultation
To schedule a consultation with our Orange County, California trust administration law firm, call us at 714-888-4834 or send us an e-mail.
