Product Description

You’re the trustee-what now?

It’s an honor to be entrusted with wrapping up the affairs of a deceased loved one, but it’s also a big task, one you may find stressful and confusing. Here is a guide that you can rely on for help with the legal, personal and practical aspects of administering a living trust.

The Trustee’s Legal Companion shows you exactly how to proceed, from handling paperwork to keeping beneficiaries informed, to knowing when to call in the professionals and how to work with them. Find out how to distribute money to the rightful beneficiaries, in keeping with the terms of the trust and state law, as well as a full breakdown of:

• what the job of trustee entails
• determining whether or not to take the job
• finding and working with legal and tax experts
• what to do with assets that should be in the trust but aren’t
• subtrust funding
• managing an ongoing trust
• paying debts and taxes
• keeping good records to avoid challenges to your actions
• terminating the trust

The Trustee’s Legal Companion is written with both the legal and the human element of the job in mind. It will help you gain peace of mind during a difficult time, while saving you time, money and headaches.


The Trustee’s Legal Companion: A Step-by-Step Guide to Administering a Living Trust

Product Description

Executing an estate or a trust fund is a big responsibility. Estate & Trust Administration For Dummies contains advice for handling estates and trusts of any size. It offers solid pointers on reading and interpreting a will and other documents, and helping heirs avoid paying too much (or too little). It also shows you how to take care of a loved one’s estate in the event that a will or trust was never created.

This authoritative, plain-English guide helps you understand and follow the rules that govern estates and trusts, ensure a smooth transfer of property, and manage fiduciary affairs in an orderly manner. You’ll get help choosing and assembling a team of professional advisors, settling debts and paying bequests, operating a revocable or irrevocable trust, and making sound trust investment decisions. Discover how to:

• Understand executors’ and trustees’ duties
• Read and interpret important documents
• Properly execute an estate or trust
• Handle estates both large and small
• Get familiar with the probate process and estate taxes
• Identify different types of trusts
• Follow the deceased’s wishes — and the law
• Notify insurers and employers of a death
• Follow the steps for closing an estate
• Establish, fund, and change ownership of a trust
• Keep proper trust records

Yes, you can do the job and do it well. All you need is a little help from Estate and Trust Administration For Dummies.

Estate & Trust Administration For Dummies