What Does Trust Administration Mean?

If you create a trust for the purposes of estate planning, it is equally important to valuate who you intend to appoint as trustee. The trustee is responsible for administering the trust after you pass away. One of the leading reasons for many people to choose to use a trust is because probate is time consuming, public and expensive. Living trusts are another tool to help you maintain privacy and avoid probate.

Legal procedures associated with trust administration, however, still must be followed. In some cases, a probate lawyer or even an accountant may be involved. When the creator of a trust dies, the trustee of that trust has several responsibilities that must be dealt with immediately. The first of these is to review the actual terms of the trust and then provide notices if a pour over will indicates that any assets belonging to the deceased should be moved into the trust. This has to be filed within probate court promptly.

Finally, any beneficiary under the trust who is not also a trustee should likely receive specific notice about the trust’s existence. Notice should also be sent to the IRS about who will be handling tax matters on behalf of the decedent. In many cases, it may be helpful to choose a trustee who has served in this role before or someone who is capable of getting help from an experienced and knowledgeable attorney.

Trust administration is important, and this individual has a legal responsibility known as fiduciary duty to handle these issues in a timely fashion. If you need help determining how to assign trust responsibility, contact a knowledgeable estate planning lawyer in NH.