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What to Do After Living Trust Owner's Death
When an owner of a living trust has died, California
law requires the trustee to take specific legal steps in
order for the family and/or other named persons to inherit
from the trust and to have the assets transferred
into their own names. This process is called "living
trust administration." It
is similar to probate, except that it occurs without the
involvement of a court and is usually
faster and less expensive.
It is generally needed even if there is a second
owner / trustee of the trust, such as a spouse, who is still
living.
If the living trust contains items of
substantial value, such as a home, stocks and
bonds, or other investments, it is worthwhile
to hire an experienced attorney to make sure each of the
required legal steps is followed. Otherwise, title
to the assets may not pass properly, the trustee and trust
beneficiaries may have legal liability to the creditors of
the deceased, tax benefits may be lost, and the successor
trustee may be liable to trust beneficiaries for failing
to properly perform all of the trustee's legal duties. All
of these problems can be avoided by
retaining experienced trust administration attorneys.
How Our Experienced Attorneys Handle Living Trust Administration
When you hire the experienced attorneys of
San Diego Law Firm to administer a living trust after
the owner has passed away, with the successor trustee's authorization we
will accomplish all required legal steps, including:
1. Advising the trustee on
each of his or her responsibilities.
2. Preparing notices of administration,
and advising the trustee as to who must receive these notices. Once
authorized by the trustee, we'll send the notices.
3. Obtaining a tax id number for the trust, confirming
that all assets are properly titled in the trust,
and taking legal steps to have any problematic
assets properly titled.
4. Inventorying the assets of the
deceased owner, and obtaining appraisals or date-of-death
values for all assets.
5. Preparing and filing any court proceedings needed to protect the
trustee and beneficiaries from claims
by creditors.
6. Seeking court approval of the trustee's
actions if
the trust terms are unclear, or there
is a dispute.
7. Paying the creditors of the deceased.
8. If the terms of
the trust require it
to be divided into separate trusts (typically, an estate
trust and a survivor's living trust), we will determine
the best way to allocate the assets to obtain the
maximum tax benefits,
and will seek the trustee's consent to our proposed division.
9. Preparing accountings for the beneficiaries
and a plan
for distribution.
10. Preparing deeds and other
legal documents needed for distribution
and transfer of the trust assets into the names of
the persons who have inherited those assets.
11. Referring you to an experienced
estate accountant for
preparation of Federal and California
estate tax returns for estates
valued above the statutory minimum, a final income
tax return for the deceased, a trust
income tax return at the end of the year, and a summary for
the beneficiary tax returns. If the trust is not
entirely distributed at that point, the accountant will
need to prepare annual fiduciary income tax returns for
the trust.
If authorized to do so, we will also file the original
will of the deceased with the appropriate California county
clerk.
If the will passes either no assets or assets whose
total value is under $100,000, then no California probate
is required. Otherwise, the will must be probated even
though there was a living trust. For more information about
the probate process, please see our California
Probate & Inheritance section
in this website. |
Cost of Living Trust Administration
The costs of San Diego Law Firm's services for living
trust administration are based on how
much legal work we will need to do to properly administer the trust. The amount
of work generally depends on the size and complexity of
the trust, the number of beneficiaries, and whether there
are any disputes over the trusts' assets or their distribution.
There is a minimum amount of work that must be done to administer
even a small estate, so if the estate is very small,
trust administration fees may equal statutory probate fees.
However, for larger estates, attorneys fees to administer
a living trust are much less than statutory probate fees.
We will give you our best estimate
as to fees when we review the trust documents and the assets
of the trust at our initial meeting with you.
If our estimate changes because additional facts about
assets or beneficiaries come to light, because beneficiaries
dispute the distribution of the assets, or for
any other reason, we will let you
know promptly what the additional expense will be.
Other
trust administration expenses include publication costs for
notices to creditors, court filing fees where needed, minor
administration costs, appraisers' fees, accounting fees,
and trustee's fees (which are often waived where the trustee
is a family member).
| How San Diego Law Firm Can
Help You with Living Trust Administration |
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San Diego
Law Firm provides skilled, caring living trust administration
services. We:
- Competently and promptly
perform every legal task, so that you
can have the peace of mind of knowing all paperwork
and proceedings have been correctly handled without
unnecessary delay.
- Provide complete, understandable
legal advice to
the successor trustee.
- Approach our tasks with sensitivity,
understanding that bereavement can be very difficult
for the family.
- Listen closely to you and make every effort to satisfy
your requests.
- Make the living trust administration
process as smooth and painless as possible.
- Work efficiently to control costs wherever
possible.
If you need California living
trust administration,
we can help you. Please just call San
Diego Law Firm for more information
or an appointment: 619-794-0243.
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How to Contact Us
For more information
or an appointment: 619-794-0243.
or, if you prefer, send us an e-mail at
and an attorney from our office will contact you. Please note that
making a phone call or sending an e-mail does not create an attorney-client
relationship; this requires a written agreement. Please do not e-mail any confidential
information to us until an agreement is signed; at that point, we can exchange
confidential information freely.
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