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A Knowledgeable Legal Guide For Trust Administration Matters

As a successor trustee, you have a great amount of responsibility. Designated by the trust creator as the administrator of a person’s trust, your role includes controlling the property within the trust, managing the trust’s investments and overseeing its payouts. You may have some initial uncertainty when taking on this responsibility, and guidance from a reliable probate lawyer could prove crucial.

Our firm, Gadi Zohar, Esq., in Palo Alto, has the advocate you need. Gadi Zohar has a comprehensive understanding of estate planning law in California, including the process of trust administration. He has represented many clients throughout the San Francisco Bay Area since 2011.

Many Duties, Many Questions, Solid Advice

Living trusts are essential because they allow the trust creator to manage assets while alive and competent, yet they also allow for a relatively seamless takeover of those assets at the incapacity or death of the trust creator. Also, unlike with a will, the trust administration process avoids the public probate process. The person who takes over at the trust creator’s incapacity or death is known as the successor trustee.

The person named as successor trustee of the trust must fulfill a number of duties in a process somewhat similar to probate. Some of those tasks include:

  • Reviewing the trust’s terms
  • Organizing the assets of the trust
  • Evaluating and paying the decedent’s just debts
  • Selling property or distributing the property to heirs and beneficiaries
  • Paying the trust creator’s income taxes, as well as any other taxes that may be due

Because trusts are flexible documents, there are many types of trusts with many different terms. On top of that, there are laws that must be followed in administering trusts. Understanding the successor trustee’s duties can be complicated. Because there are so many different types of trusts, it is crucial for successor trustees to gain the legal insight of a skilled attorney who will provide guidance in trust administration.

Schedule A Consultation With A Skilled Estate Administration Attorney

Often a trust can be complicated for successor trustees (the people named to manage the trust assets when the trust creator is no longer able) to understand. This is the time when a skilled estate administration attorney can guide you.

Attorney Gadi Zohar, in Palo Alto, has a thorough understanding of trust administration. Please contact our firm either online or by calling 650-449-6671.