Trust Administration

Trust Administration is the process by which trust assets are distributed in accordance with the terms of the trust. When the trustor (grantor) of a trust becomes incapable of carrying out the terms or passes away, the successor trustee steps in. The trustee is obligated to follow certain rules and owes a duty to the trust to carry out its terms.

On the passing of the trustor, most common trusts will require that assets be liquidated and/or held or transferred to beneficiaries. Normally, trusts are made to be simple enough for the successor trustee to administer alone. However, while the trustee is likely to be someone that the creator of the trust has faith in, interpretation of more difficult terms of a trust may be too complicated to handle alone. In those situations trustees look to an attorney to assist, in order to make sure all of the fiduciary obligations of the trustee are met.