Trustee: Empowering Your Representative to Fulfill Your Wishes

As a California estate planning attorney, one of our most important jobs is helping clients empower and prepare their trustee for the job they have been chosen for. The person you appoint as trustee will inherit a number of important roles and responsibilities, and it is imperative to talk through what may be expected of him or her in advance. 

A good starting point is to have the trustee review the recently created trust document. It makes sense to do this while the person who created the Trust is still alive and well so that you can talk about the true intentions behind the Trust. Both parties may choose to sit down and discuss this privately, or with their attorney to work through any confusing points. This will provide the trustee with valuable insight on what was originally intended when the trust was created and how to bring those goals about.

Along these same lines, it is the Trustee’s responsibility to make certain that he or she is acting in the best interest of the beneficiaries. If there is a question about how to properly manage assets, a California estate planning attorney can be brought in for advice and to make sure that decisions being made are in line with California state and federal laws. That is one of the reasons why estate planning attorneys always recommend choosing a Trustee who not only has good business sense but who is also extremely trustworthy. He or she should understand that the Trust is never to be used for personal gain.

As an added safeguard along these lines, the Trustee should be prepared to provide an annual accounting of the Trust to the beneficiaries. This allows all parties to understand how the Trust is being managed. It may also be appropriate to have your trustee provide this information to an estate planning attorney or other legal entity if that is your desire.

While having a trust provides a number of legal safeguards and protections for your family, complications can still arise if the trustee is not properly prepared for his or her job. Having these conversations in advance with your chosen trustee can help address any potential issues while you are still able to express your wishes and will provide the trustee with a greater understanding of what may be expected of him or her when the time comes. If you need help facilitating such conversations or you’d like information about setting up a trust in the first place, please contact our estate planning law firm at 800-244-8814 to schedule 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.