Our experienced attorneys Joseph A. Lumsdaine, Mark C. Doyle, Monica Goel, and Jennifer S. Sawday handle living trust administration.
Post Mortem administration of a trust often requires some or all of the legal steps below, including:
- Advising the trustee on each of his or her responsibilities.
- Preparing notices of administration, and advising the trustee as to who must receive these notices.
- Obtaining a tax id number for the trust, confirming that all assets are properly titled in the trust, and taking legal steps to have any problematic assets properly titled.
- Inventorying the assets of the deceased owner, and obtaining appraisals or date-of-death values for all assets.
- Preparing and filing any court proceedings needed to protect the trustee and beneficiaries from claims by creditors.
- Seeking court approval of the trustee’s actions if the trust terms are unclear, or there is a dispute.
- Paying the creditors of the deceased.
- If the terms of the trust require it to be divided into separate trusts (typically, an estate trust and a survivor’s living trust), we will determine the best way to allocate the assets to obtain the maximum tax benefits, and will seek the trustee’s consent to our proposed division.
- Preparing accountings for the beneficiaries and a plan for distribution.
- Preparing deeds and other legal documents needed for distribution and transfer of the trust assets into the names of the persons who have inherited those assets.
- Referring you to an experienced estate accountant for preparation of Federal and California estate tax returns for estates valued above the statutory minimum, a final income tax return for the deceased, a trust income tax return at the end of the year, and a summary for the beneficiary tax returns.
We are also experiences litigators, with a specialty in the area of Trust Litigation. Our litigation services include:
- Prosecution and/or Defense of a Trust Contests
- Heggstad Petitions regarding trust assets
- Elder Abuse Litigation
- Litigation to return property belonging to an estate or trust
- Objections and/or Defense of Trust Accounting
- No Contest Clause Litigation
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