TRUST ADMINISTRATION (CLOSING AN ESTATE) – TRUSTEE RESPONSIBILITIES…

If you are looking at this page, we are sad that you have probably lost a loved one! The death of a family member or friend is always difficult! We are here to help you!

Administering and navigating the Trust Estate of a loved one can be legally and emotionally challenging, especially if you have to deal with difficult family members or beneficiaries!

It is always a good thing for you to have a law firm to be your backstop… and to be able to say, “please call my attorney” and give them our phone number (818) 241-4238… We welcome you to call us at this number for a free consultation to understand your responsibility as the person to close an estate.

Our Trust Administration Attorney, Joseph McHugh (Joe) and his team specialize in helping families terminate trusts according to California and Federal laws. Our firm has years of experience helping many California trustees (including helping “out of town” trustees follow the legal steps to terminate a trust in the Southern California and Los Angeles County).

Trust Administration is the legal process of legally closing an Estate and finally distributing the estate to the listed beneficiaries… hopefully without a big family fight!

At the end of the trust closing process and finalizing the distributions, each beneficiary must sign a final approval before any distribution happen, or the trustee may be sued if proper approval signatures are not obtained! If there are charities as beneficiaries, they will insist on proper notices and accountings by the trustee.
 
 

 
When assigned as the Trustee with the task of administering and/or closing an estate, you should consider hiring our firm to ensure you are protecting the estate and moreover yourself as family members can get difficult when it comes to inheritance. This job can be a major headache and may create personal liability if you do not know the trust laws and your responsibilities in California and are assigned as a trustee.

If you think the family is not going to cooperate and easily agree with the terms of the trust, do not try the handle this without legal representation! Know that the trust funds are to be used to pay attorney fees to represent you as trustee!

Our Trust Administration Attorney & Staff are experienced in guiding and supporting a Trustee through the process of closing out the Trust Estate. This includes managing the legal issues with the beneficiaries, accountings, asset transfers, as well as all other legal matters involved in closing an estate.

In many cases when we handle a case, the trustee will notify the beneficiaries to direct all questions to LA LAW Center if they have questions… this makes sure the trustee is protected and takes the direct inquiries way from the Trustee that is dealing with other issues.

 

You Are Now A Trustee…What Does This Mean

Being the Trustee is a confusing and time-consuming job with many beneficiaries looking to you for their inheritance and ready to criticize any of your actions.

The following is a brief overview of what is involved in being a Trustee and how we can support you in your role as Trustee:

  1. We can help a Trustee (the person who will manage the assets until the final distribution to the beneficiaries) with initial trust notifications to all family and beneficiaries.
  2. There is a series of legal notices and accounting that must sent to the beneficiaries defining the trust and the beneficiaries and final distribution.
  3. We required all Beneficiaries to sign notifications before release of assets.
  4. Legally managing the trust’s final wishes and dealing with the beneficiaries.
  5. Transfer of assets regarding real properties and financial accounts involved in closing the trust.
  6. Our Trust Administration Lawyer and Paralegals are ready to support your responsibilities on whatever level you feel you need in this complicated legal process.
  7. The complexity of each Trust Administration will vary depending on the number and types of assets, their assessed value, whether property must be sold (then divided after taxes) and to what extent the trust has tax planning provisions.
  8. We represent the trustee that is closing the Estate and always recommend that assets are NEVER DISTRIBUTED UNTIL each beneficiary signs the legal approvals and or waivers (sent to our office so they know you are represented by legal counsel) accepting their share defined by trust and legally declare that we not sue the Trustee in the future.

Do You Need A Trust Administration Attorney To Represent You?

You may need to legally protect yourself and get the legal advice of a Trust Administration Lawyer in properly closing of the Trust.

Do YOU want to protect yourself from potential lawsuits due to errors or mistakes in the Trust Administration process that you may not know about?

You will need a Trust Administration Attorney if there are beneficiaries or other family members that may want to contest the following:

  1. The Trust in general.
  2. You as the assigned as the Trustee.
  3. Your actions regarding the Estate and Trust Administration issues.
 

Attorney Joe McHugh and his staff are ready to help you and hopefully prevent your Trust Administration case going to court! Our goal is to settle any complaints and make sure the trust’s final distribution is honored.

After a thorough review of the best strategies and most cost-effective process for your Trust Administration we will present to you our legal fees for the scope of work. Once approved we will structure a plan and guide you through the Trust Administration legal process created specifically to for your situation.

Our Law Office is in Southern California; however, we serve many clients throughout California and that are out of state facing jumping into the Trustee job and having to wrap up and close California Trusts.

We are happy to help you!

Call for consultation: (818) 241-4238. Or you can submit this form to request a consultation.