Be VERY careful about who you choose. If you can stay within the family and not hire a corporate trustee, that's best. We've had a nightmare experience with two "trust" companies, one of which has the logo "Trust. It's in our name". So it is but it's definitely not in their actions. The first co. was asked to sell a piece of property that was draining funds. The trust officers tried to shame us by saying "well, it's not that much money. $200k is not "that much money"?!! Then, when we complained to the attorney months later, she told the trust to get it done, so they agreed to list the house. We asked them for a date and they said Nov. 1st (that was 2019). When Nov. 1st came and went they changed it to Dec. 1st, then Jan 3rd, but never did it. The lying was worse than not selling it. And they'd been charging $17k just to pay bills, which they often paid late! So, I went on a search for a new trust company. There were few local ones and two of them said there wasnt enough money left. When I found a new trust co., we interviewed the lone trust officer but chose her MUCH too quickly and without enough substantial information. A few months after being hired, she lied in email about paying a health insurance policy I found out weeks later had actually lapsed. A week later we were told she'd let a life insurance policy lapse, and THEN she didn't send paperwork to a CPA to get income taxes filed. She was incompetent, so an attorney removed her as trustee. Two weeks later, we received a notice in the mail that she and her bank were suing!! She claimed I was "uncooperative" but didn't say how and didn't mention the 20 times out of 21 that she asked me for files or accounts that I gave her right away. She said that I was condescending, showing a single email in which I said I wanted less talk and more action. She failed to mention the two times she'd called me and refused to let me finish with Dad's hospice nurse, saying her needs were more urgent. I can't sue for defamation because I have to proof loss of a job or income from the slander. I'm an unpaid caregiver so I'm losing nothing but my inheritance. My parents will lose over $30k in attorney fees and will have to file for bankruptcy but they can't sue because she didn't slander them. I never knew bank employees could be so vicious and vindictive over being fired for doing a bad job. Trust companies are useless, self-serving and crooked, in our experience.
Go to a trust and estate attorney, and they'll get you all set up. Be sure to appoint a successor trustee to take over the administration of the trust, because you never know which one of you might go first.
We've had a nightmare experience with two "trust" companies, one of which has the logo "Trust. It's in our name". So it is but it's definitely not in their actions.
The first co. was asked to sell a piece of property that was draining funds. The trust officers tried to shame us by saying "well, it's not that much money. $200k is not "that much money"?!!
Then, when we complained to the attorney months later, she told the trust to get it done, so they agreed to list the house. We asked them for a date and they said Nov. 1st (that was 2019). When Nov. 1st came and went they changed it to Dec. 1st, then Jan 3rd, but never did it. The lying was worse than not selling it. And they'd been charging $17k just to pay bills, which they often paid late!
So, I went on a search for a new trust company. There were few local ones and two of them said there wasnt enough money left.
When I found a new trust co., we interviewed the lone trust officer but chose her MUCH too quickly and without enough substantial information. A few months after being hired, she lied in email about paying a health insurance policy I found out weeks later had actually lapsed. A week later we were told she'd let a life insurance policy lapse, and THEN she didn't send paperwork to a CPA to get income taxes filed. She was incompetent, so an attorney removed her as trustee. Two weeks later, we received a notice in the mail that she and her bank were suing!!
She claimed I was "uncooperative" but didn't say how and didn't mention the 20 times out of 21 that she asked me for files or accounts that I gave her right away. She said that I was condescending, showing a single email in which I said I wanted less talk and more action. She failed to mention the two times she'd called me and refused to let me finish with Dad's hospice nurse, saying her needs were more urgent.
I can't sue for defamation because I have to proof loss of a job or income from the slander. I'm an unpaid caregiver so I'm losing nothing but my inheritance.
My parents will lose over $30k in attorney fees and will have to file for bankruptcy but they can't sue because she didn't slander them.
I never knew bank employees could be so vicious and vindictive over being fired for doing a bad job.
Trust companies are useless, self-serving and crooked, in our experience.