If estate planning is the process of designing a playbook, estate administration occurs when the playbook is put into action. The process begins with an event that triggers a provision in your estate plan, such as incapacity or death. The plan becomes ‘executory’, meaning that the individuals you designated in your plan documents must step into action and execute the plan according to your instructions.
Estate administration can be complex and the people you have designated must have competent and experienced counsel to guide them through the process. They must make important decisions – sometimes quickly – and they need help to make them wisely. They may need to prepare inventories of your property, prepare tax returns, or sign other important documents on your behalf. Ultimately they must divide and distribute your property to those individuals or charities you identified in your will or trust agreement.
The estate administration process carries a lot of responsibilities. Mickelson Law Office can help guide your loved ones through the process as sensitively and completely as possible, we will try to make it as straightforward and efficient as possible.
A living trust is a legal document that, just like a will, contains your instructions for what you want to happen to your assets when you die. But, unlike a will, a living trust can avoid probate at death, control all of your assets and prevent the court from controlling your assets if you become incapacitated.
Upon the death of a grantor Doug Thesenvitz offers legal services to your successor trustee. The trustee is responsible for seeing that the assets of the trust are distributed properly and in a timely manner. An overview of the valuable guidance Doug provides include:
Review of the trust document
Gathering of all trust assets
Explanation of trustee responsibilities
Estate Tax Analysis
Collection of death benefits
Creation of sub-trusts
Dissolution of trust