27 Jul Duties of A Successor Trustee
For those who have been involved in the process of a living trust whether it be through work or through relationship, understand how important the choice for the successor trustee is. Deciding who you want to be responsible for all of your possessions when you are no longer able to can be a difficult decision and probably the most important one you will make while creating a trust. To many it’s a prized title and an honor to be named as the successor trustee, but few really understand the full extent of duties that this position entails. This is important and should not be overlooked, there is a lot of fiscal responsibility that is on the shoulders of the successor trustee and it wouldn’t be right to accept or name someone into this position without knowing more about it.
Although there are many duties great and small there are a few crucial tasks that one must understand before accepting or selecting someone for this title. First they should have read and fully understand every aspect and direction of the living trust. This is crucial to the entire process of the trust, if the successor trustee is to direct the actions of the trust he must fully understand the specifics and the instructions of the living trust. However this duty is a given, there are other responsibilities other than distributing assets of a trust that come with being a successor trustee. The immediate responsibilities of a successor trustee would be to handle the immediate actions necessary directly following the death of the grantor/original trustee such as arranging the funeral, cancelling the credit cards, and cancelling received benefits and insurances. After these matters have been handled the accounts have to be renamed as the successor trustee so that they can distributed amongst the beneficiaries. Before distributing the assets of the trust the entire estate must be appraised as well to properly divide assets amongst the beneficiaries. Although there are many specifics that come with being a successor trustee mostly entail being a caretaker of the estate until every action of the trust has been fulfilled and the trust has been terminated, including paying taxes on everything in the trust yearly.
Basically as a successor trustee you are the manager of another’s estate with their best interest and will at mind. When someone names you as the Successor trustee, they are entrusting you with the responsibility of ensuring that their final wishes are carried out the same as if they were still there.
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