(The Nuts and Bolts of Administering a Trust for the First-Time Trustee)
Common Questions
How do I perform the duties of trustee of a trust, in layman's terms?
That is exactly what The Basics of Trust Administration -- California provides. Ms. Rice has been administering trusts of all sizes for over 10 years, under an attorney who is certified by the State Bar of California Board of Legal Specialization in Estate Planning, Trust and Probate Law. In her 10 years of experience she has realized that there are times when trusts can be administered by the trustee with minimal professional help, if they have a step-by-step guide.
NEW!
As of January 1, 2008, the California legislature put into effect new state laws pertaining to the licensing of notary publics and the wording of the notary acknowledgment and notary jurat for documents. The Basics of Trust Administration was published in 2007 and therefore contains the versions of the acknowledgment and jurat which were required prior to January 1, 2008. For your convenience, the updated acknowledgment and jurat are included here on The Basics of Trust Administration.
This is the "How To" book that everyone has been waiting for! As our population ages, we are forced into dealing with the assets of a parent/aunt/uncle or even a sibling who has died. In that case, this book is exactly what you need.
If you were named as successor trustee of a trust, and were expected to act as trustee tomorrow, would you know what to do? If you're like most people, you would be overwhelmed with just trying to figure out what you are supposed to do and have no idea how to do it. You would therefore immediately retain an attorney (at a substantial cost to the trust) to assist you in the routine tasks of administration. However, a trustee that is provided with the proper tools doesn't need an attorney for those routine "nuts and bolts" tasks.
This book is one of those "proper tools". It is intended to provide a procedural roadmap to a non-professional successor trustee of a trust and to enable the trustee to more easily navigate a simple trust administration. Some of the information may also be helpful to those persons who have created a trust for themselves and want to be sure their trust is funded correctly.