How Much Information Should You Share with Your Trustee?

How much information should you share with your  trustee beforehand and still maintain some privacy about your personal affairs? We’ve outlined the bare minimum topics that our Pasadena Trust lawyers believe you should discuss with your trustee so that he or she is capable of administering the trust with as little difficulty as possible when the time comes.

To start, if you are comfortable having a meeting with your Trustee to discuss your intentions, it gives them the chance to ask questions and for you to clarify to help ensure your wishes are fully and properly carried out. 

It is also the trustee’s responsibility to act in the best interests of the beneficiaries. If there is a question about how best to manage the assets and property in the trust, it’s a wise idea to let your trustee know that they can turn to your attorney to ensure that the decisions are being made in compliance with state and federal laws. Opening the lines of communication between your attorney and trustee from the start can be a wise and prudent decision. 

It’s also important for your trustee to understand that the trust is not for his or her personal gain and that they must withstand the temptation to use the trust for their own benefit. While acting as trustee, their main focus should be to effectively manage the assets of the trust. This means intelligently investing money and distributing funds to beneficiaries when appropriate. Trustees should open a checking account for the trust to help keep track of trust funds while making sure that any money that comes in or goes out of the trust is done through this checking account. This creates an easy-to-see method for tracking income and expenses.

As an added safeguard, the trustee should provide an annual accounting of the trust to the beneficiaries along with your estate planning lawyer to provide transparency on how the trust is being managed. Keeping in regular contact with the beneficiaries lessens the chance of discord between all the parties and keeps all transactions out in the open.

If you want to learn more about choosing a trustee for your trust, or if you want to have your current estate plan reviewed to make sure your trust is set up properly, please contact our Pasadena estate planning law firm at 800-244-8814 to set up a consultation.

If you have any further questions about estate planning and strategies to shield your wealth, or if you’d like to have your current asset protection plan reviewed to make sure it still meets your needs, please contact us at one of our offices located throughout the state of California 800-244-8814 to set up a consultation.