Our family is in the processes of setting up an estate plan for purposes of NY state estate taxes and to avoid probate. Right now the money will go into revocable credit shelter trusts with the grantors (age 80) being the trustees and after both grantor-spouses die it will go into separate irrevocable family trusts for first their kids and then their grandkids.
The estate lawyer wants us to select an independent trustee and successor trustee for the family trusts. We're struggling with who to select for this role. There are no cousins or other family in the US. These roles seems like a lot of responsibility for a friend. We're looking at corporate trustees, although the estate lawyer seems to prefer selecting an individual.
Part of our issue is that we lack a good understanding of what the process of working with a corporate trustees is like. How does will the transactions and running the trust work? As written, the estate plan puts no restrictions on how the money is spent. There is no restriction on the beneficiary changing the independent trustee or successor trustee. It just says that a majority of the trustees need to agree on a distribution of money and the beneficiary can change trustees at a certain age.
So if at some time in the future, the grandkids needs to take some money out of the trust, do they just ask the independent trustee? Is there paperwork that needs to be filled out? Is it better to have a trustee that is local or can it all be done online?
Do corporate trustees typically help with trust-related taxes? Do they need to co-sign a form or something every time a distribution of money is made?
I've tried calling Vanguard, and some other major banks (bank of america)/brokerage firms to ask these questions and am having trouble speaking to someone from the trust department.
To those familiar with this process, my questions are who have you gone with for your independent or successor trustee? What has the process of working with an independent trustee been like? Are corporate trustees services, like vanguards, a lot more difficult to work with then, maybe a friend?
Do any of you have any recommendations for trustees (corporate, bank, or some other entity)? And, any recommendations for resources, online videos, or companies that we can call who will explain what an independent and successor trustee does and what the actual process of working with them will be like (ie. that have good customer service over the telephone - I've tried calling vanguard, Charles Schwab, and Bank of America and couldn't figure out how to get through to a human who could answer these questions)?
The estate lawyer wants us to select an independent trustee and successor trustee for the family trusts. We're struggling with who to select for this role. There are no cousins or other family in the US. These roles seems like a lot of responsibility for a friend. We're looking at corporate trustees, although the estate lawyer seems to prefer selecting an individual.
Part of our issue is that we lack a good understanding of what the process of working with a corporate trustees is like. How does will the transactions and running the trust work? As written, the estate plan puts no restrictions on how the money is spent. There is no restriction on the beneficiary changing the independent trustee or successor trustee. It just says that a majority of the trustees need to agree on a distribution of money and the beneficiary can change trustees at a certain age.
So if at some time in the future, the grandkids needs to take some money out of the trust, do they just ask the independent trustee? Is there paperwork that needs to be filled out? Is it better to have a trustee that is local or can it all be done online?
Do corporate trustees typically help with trust-related taxes? Do they need to co-sign a form or something every time a distribution of money is made?
I've tried calling Vanguard, and some other major banks (bank of america)/brokerage firms to ask these questions and am having trouble speaking to someone from the trust department.
To those familiar with this process, my questions are who have you gone with for your independent or successor trustee? What has the process of working with an independent trustee been like? Are corporate trustees services, like vanguards, a lot more difficult to work with then, maybe a friend?
Do any of you have any recommendations for trustees (corporate, bank, or some other entity)? And, any recommendations for resources, online videos, or companies that we can call who will explain what an independent and successor trustee does and what the actual process of working with them will be like (ie. that have good customer service over the telephone - I've tried calling vanguard, Charles Schwab, and Bank of America and couldn't figure out how to get through to a human who could answer these questions)?
Statistics: Posted by Dusn — Thu Dec 19, 2024 10:57 am — Replies 1 — Views 50