San Jose Management of Trusts Attorneys

Planning for the end of your life is an emotional process. In fact, many people avoid it because they are uncomfortable thinking about their own mortality. However, estate planning is crucial to ensuring that your family is cared for after you pass.

Trusts are complicated estate arrangements. However, they can be extremely beneficial for your family. If you are considering creating a trust, or already have one, it is important that you have an honest and experienced individual handle the trust’s administration and management. Hiring an attorney to handle the trust administration process can be extremely beneficial and ensures that your family does not need to shoulder the burden of this role after you pass.

Fortunately, our trust attorneys are here to support your family during the trust administration process. With years of experience, we are a reliable choice for your trust management needs.

Huber Fox, P.C.: Your San Jose Trust Management Attorneys

When you create a trust, you are creating a plan for your life’s work. Without these arrangements, everything that you worked for could end up with the state or in the wrong hands. A trust administration or management lawyer can help to ensure that this does not happen.

With over a decade of experience in estate planning and trust administration law in California, our team has the training and expertise to ensure that your trust is reliable and tailored to your family’s needs. No two trust agreements are the same, and our mission is to create estate planning solutions that work in each individual situation.

Our attorneys offer industry-leading trust management services to our clients. You can rely on our team’s experience when you are making plans for the next generation.

What Does a Trust Management Attorney Do?

As noted, trusts are complicated. Trust management and administration can be even more confusing. This is why many people hire an attorney to help them create their trusts. This investment ensures that the trust in question is airtight and that there are no issues down the road.

A trust management attorney will help you to learn about all the different kinds of trusts and the ways that they can be organized. No two trusts are the same, and you should know all your options before making any decisions about the future of your assets. With these options explained to you, you are empowered to make the best choices for you, your assets, and your family.

In some cases, a trust management attorney can act as your fiduciary for your trust. This individual manages your trust while you are still alive and helps to oversee the distribution of assets after you pass away. The job is significant and complicated, which is why many people opt to assign the task to a professional rather than a family member. If you do name a family member as your fiduciary, a trust management attorney can assist them with trust administration tasks after you pass.

Benefits of a Trust

If you are considering a trust as an estate planning option, it is important to know the ways in which it can benefit you and your family. For many people, the benefits of a trust far outweigh the complicated details.

A major benefit of trusts is their ability to bypass probate court. The probate process is a standard occurrence after someone dies. During this process, the court ensures that the deceased’s debts are paid, assesses the validity of the will and other documents, and takes taxes from the estate. Most estates that go through probate result in fewer assets moving to the deceased’s beneficiaries.

However, probate court only applies to assets that belong to someone who has died. When you have a trust, the administrator technically has control over the assets. Since they are not the one who passed away, they can move the assets to the beneficiaries without going through probate court. This keeps more money and assets in the hands of your beneficiaries rather than in the pocket of the state.

The Role of a Fiduciary

Although the main purpose of a fiduciary is to manage a trust, it is important to understand the specific tasks that are expected of these individuals after you die. Understanding this role can help you choose the right person for the task rather than overwhelm an individual who is ill-prepared to fill the role.

A fiduciary is responsible for:

• Estate management, including property value assessment, paying outstanding bills or debts associated with the estate, reporting gains and losses to the proper entities, and filing taxes for the trust.
• Notifying the Department of Health, Social Security Administration, insurance companies, mortgage lenders, credit card companies, banks, and beneficiaries of your death.
• Distributing all assets to your beneficiaries after you die.
• Ensuring that your estate and trust always comply with all laws.
• Handling any legal issues that arise in relation to the trust and its administration.

Being a fiduciary is a complex and involved job. Most people do not know where to begin when it comes to performing fiduciary roles. Trust management attorneys are highly trained in this field and know how to approach all these tasks. This alleviates some of the stressors that plague a family following the death of a loved one.

The Challenges of Trust Administration

Of course, the above tasks provide natural challenges to individuals who manage trusts. However, even those who have experience in this area can face challenges if they are emotionally involved with the family. Many times, beneficiaries begin to fight over the assets that they inherit from a trust. Some people may believe that they were entitled to certain assets, while others think that they should have received more. No matter what the case may be, it is the trust administrator’s job to adhere to the trust’s instructions and always act within the trustor’s best interest.

When family members are selected to act as administrators, it is extremely difficult to remain impartial. They may have to listen to members of their immediate family argue over assets and try to convince them that they deserve more. If your administrator is a close loved one, they will be grieving your death while dealing with this family drama.

Hiring an attorney as your fiduciary or trust management expert provides you with an impartial third party to carry out your wishes. We can remain logical and level-headed, even when challenges arise.