Trust administration is the process in which a Trust is administered. Typically, a trust needs to be administered by someone other than the person who created the Trust. That someone is called a “successor trustee.”
The successor trustee is tasked by the Trust under which the person is appointed to carry out certain tasks, such as to make distributions to beneficiaries or to maintain a subtrust if distributions are not to be made outright or there are beneficiaries who have not reached a certain age for an outright distribution. The successor trustee also has certain fiduciary duties required of them under California law, which include notifying beneficiaries of the existence of the trust and amendments, and keeping beneficiaries reasonably apprised of the administration.
Many trust administrations take place outside the purview of the court. However, there are instances where the successor trustee may need legal counsel:
– Assets are not titled in the name of the Trust
– Disagreement among beneficiaries regarding non pro rata distributions, for example where the Trust provides assets are to be divided equally among children, but one child may want to buy out the other children’s share of a residence or two children want to buy out the parent(s)’ residence
– Ambiguity in the Trust document where the successor trustee is unclear as to what the Trust requires
Some of these issues can be resolved by working with an attorney; however, other issues may require resolution in a court setting.