Trust Administration after death is an important aspect of the estate planning process. We can offer our assistance in the process.
Setting up a living trust is the best way to avoid the costs and frustrations of probate upon death. Although administering a trust is far easier and less expensive than a probate action, there is always some administrative burden upon death.
At Morris Hall, PLLC, we differ from many estate planning law firms in that we not only create trusts, but we also do estate and trust administration. We assist successor trustees with the responsibilities they have upon the death of a trustee.
If you serve as a trustee of a trust or as a personal representative of a decedent’s estate, you face many complicated responsibilities. The estate planning attorneys at Morris Hall help address any issues that may arise in the course of trust administration or probate. Upon death, the following taxes may come into play: estate tax, inheritance tax, income tax, capital gains tax, generation-skipping tax and excise tax. If the administration of your trust is handled correctly, we can minimize or even avoid those taxes.
Protecting Your Beneficiaries
Properly created revocable trusts are implemented by husbands and wives or by single individuals for their benefit while they are living and for the benefit of their children or other beneficiaries after they die. While placing assets in a revocable living trust removes them from your personal name, the assets may still be subject to your creditors while you are alive and to taxes and creditor claims upon your death. When death occurs, our first goal as your estate attorneys is to protect your assets, first for a surviving spouse, and then for your beneficiaries.
When a spouse dies, our lawyers help the surviving spouse implement the decedent’s trust—essentially, the surviving spouse can put the decedent’s assets into Fort Knox and still have the key. She or he will be able to get at the assets, but nobody else can touch it.
When the surviving spouse dies, we set up beneficiary trusts so each of the beneficiaries has his or her own personal Fort Knox. When they need access to the assets, and when they are responsible enough to handle them, they can have the key.
Contact us to arrange a consultation with an experienced trust administration lawyer today. Our offices are located in Phoenix, Tucson, and communities throughout Arizona. Trust administration after death does not have to be something that you go through alone. Contact us using our contact form today.
