Trusts are a great estate planning tool that lets you control where your money goes in the future, protect your assets, and avoid cumbersome probate. Even if you have already worked with an attorney on creating your trust, administering it can become complicated. Whether you are refining your estate plan to keep things as simple as possible for your loved ones after your death or have been named a trustee, a Phoenix trust administration lawyer works on your behalf. Dayes Law Firm can advise on many of your trustee responsibilities to ensure that everything is handled correctly.
What Does It Mean to Administer a Trust in Phoenix?
There are three parties involved in a trust. The settlor or grantor is the person who created the trust and originally owned the assets in it. The beneficiary either receives the assets in the trust or gets payments from it. The trustee is responsible for administering it, and usually starts after the grantor dies, but it can involve managing investments or making other decisions about the assets in the trust while they are still alive.
After the grantor dies, the trustee is responsible for collecting paperwork related to all of the assets in the trust, notifying the beneficiaries and creditors, making sure an estate tax return is filed if necessary, and distributing all of the assets it contains. Sometimes this can be fairly straightforward, especially with smaller estates or single beneficiaries. However, some trusts are much more difficult to administer and may need the help of legal counsel.
How Can a Lawyer Help With Trust Administration?
There are several reasons hiring a lawyer to administer a trust can be a good option. First, dealing with the paperwork, logistics, and deadlines could simply be overwhelming, especially if the trustee is a friend or relative of the deceased grantor and is in the grieving process. If the trust was created decades ago and never updated, there could be outdated provisions that are difficult to interpret, and finding all of the assets in the trust could be difficult. There might even be some provisions that cannot be administered or beneficiaries who have died, so the trust administrator might need to go through probate court to determine how to move forward.
Conflict with the beneficiaries can require hiring an attorney. If the trustee has some discretion over how to administer the trust and the beneficiaries disagree with their decisions, the beneficiaries could file a lawsuit to contest the trust. In this situation, the trustee should hire a lawyer as early in the process as possible. Trustees can be personally liable for mistakes or mismanagement of the trust, so retaining a Phoenix lawyer is essential if they have any questions or uncertainty about how to fulfill their obligations.
Discuss Your Trust Administration Plan With a Phoenix Attorney Today
Administering a trust correctly requires attention to detail along with some legal and financial knowledge. If you have been appointed as a trustee, hiring a Phoenix trust administration lawyer is a wise option. Our team will make sure that managing and distributing the assets in the trust goes as smoothly as possible, and if there is any conflict that requires going to court, we are prepared to represent you. Dayes Law Firm offers free consultations so you can understand your options upfront. Contact us to schedule yours today.
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