You should educate yourself about estate administration when you are devising your estate plan. When you create your estate planning documents, you leave behind instructions regarding how you want your assets to be transferred. However, a representative must handle the business of your estate after you pass away.
When you use a last will as your vehicle of asset transfer, you name an executor. This is the person who will handle the estate administration tasks after you are gone. The executor would admit the will to probate, and the probate court would supervise the administration of your estate.
Since the executor will be handling the business of your estate, you want to make sure that the person that you choose has a good bit of business acumen. Your executor will also be devoting a lot of time and effort to the estate administration tasks, so you should make sure that the person that you name has the time to handle the job.
If you do not know anyone who would be a suitable executor, you can engage a professional fiduciary.
Trust Administration
You can use a trust of some kind as an alternative to a last will. There are different types of trusts that can be utilized, and you can discuss your options with a licensed estate planning attorney.
Revocable living trusts are very popular, and you do not have to be a multimillionaire to benefit from this type of trust. If you use a revocable living trust as the centerpiece of your estate plan, the estate administrator is the trustee.
When you create and fund a revocable living trust, you are called the grantor of the trust. The grantor can act as the trustee initially, so you could control the actions of the trust while you are alive and well.
The purpose of the trust is to facilitate asset transfers after you pass away, so you name a successor trustee to take over the role after your death. In the trust declaration, you leave instructions that the trustee would follow regarding the nature of the distributions to the beneficiaries.
After your passing, the trustee would administer the trust. Many people will use a corporate trustee like a trust company or the trust section of the bank. These professionals understand trust administration thoroughly, so you can go forward with peace of mind if you engage a corporate trustee.
If you would like to learn more about trust administration, we have a valuable resource that you can access through this website. Our firm has prepared a special report on the subject, and we are offering the report on a complimentary basis at the present time.
To obtain your copy of the report, visit this page and follow the simple instructions: Trust Administration Report.
John’s practice focuses on the use of Wills and Living Trusts in Estate Planning to help individuals protect their families and preserve their legacies after their deaths, but his practice also focuses on the critical issues of protecting individuals with dementia or other diminished capacity, assisting individuals in qualifying for Medicaid and other government benefits to offset the costs of long-term care, and providing special needs planning.
John is admitted to practice law in North Carolina, South Carolina, Kentucky, and Ohio, and he is accredited by the Department of Veterans Affairs.
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