In setting up your Revocable Living, you'll be asked to name a successor Trustee to administer and settle your trust after you die. In addition to selecting your first choice, you should also name one or more backup Trustee just in case your first choice isn't available to serve.
Duties and Responsibilities of Your Successor Trustee
Your Successor Trustee will be responsible for taking care of the following after you die:
- Locating and protecting your trust assets.
- Collecting life insurance policies, annuities, and retirement accounts of which your Revocable Living Trust has been named as the primary beneficiary.
- Coordinating with the Personal Representative of your estate if a probate administration is necessary.
- Obtaining the date of death values for all of your trust assets, including appraisals of real estate and business interests.
- Determining who you owed money to and then paying off these debts.
- Assessing your income and estate tax liabilities.
- Preparing and filing all required income and estate tax returns.
- Paying the ongoing expenses of administering your trust until it can be terminated and distributed to your beneficiaries.
- Raising the cash necessary to pay off your debts, the ongoing expenses of administering the trust and estate and income taxes.
- Investing and managing your trust assets until they can be distributed to your beneficiaries.
- And, finally, distributing what’s left over of your trust to the beneficiaries.
As you can see, serving as a Successor Trustee is a huge responsibility and often time-consuming burden. But with the help of your estate planning attorney, you should be able to choose the right person or institution for the job.
