Trust Administration
Trusts are complex legal documents. Successor trustees usually need legal advice before proceeding with administering the trust. The successor trustee must pay very close attention to detail. The duties of the successor trustee include accounting for trust assets, paying income and principal, preparing and filing tax returns, and dealing with other concerns such as real estate, partnerships, and business interests.
Laurie Shigekuni & Associates assists some successor trustees with their trust administration duties. We can help successor trustees to understand their obligations as trustees and can provide guidance in each step of the trust administration process.
We begin by reviewing and analyzing the will and trust, to understand the decedent's wishes. Assuming the will does not need to be submitted to the court for probate, we may work with a surviving joint tenant to remove a deceased joint tenant’s name from a shared title, or we may guide an executor and/or trustees in tasks such as opening an executor bank account, locating assets, updating titles on trust accounts, arranging for preparation of tax returns, paying debts and taxes, and wrapping up the estate and/or the decedent’s trust. Topics for guidance might include tax implications of after-death elections, effects of distribution timing choices, property management issues, or approaches to distributing assets or selling assets to distribute the proceeds.
If necessary, we may assist clients in petitioning courts for guidance on how best to carry out the deceased person’s intentions. We may also assist surviving family members in redrafting wills and trusts to reflect the effect of a deceased person’s death on their own estate planning needs.