Trust Concerns: Should I Appoint my Estate Planning Attorney as Trustee?

So its that time to make a West Palm Beach estate plan.   Do you know where to start? Experienced Palm Beach probate litigators will ask you – have you considered a testamentary trust as a will substitute? Do you know what a testamentary trust is? Have you considered who is going to serve as the trustee?

Will Substitutes

• Wills have to go through West Palm Beach probate which can be time consuming and expensive.
• More and more Palm Beach residents are choosing to go another way, I am talking about will substitutes.
• Testamentary trusts can serve as a great and effective will substitute.
• Do you know how?
• After you set up a trust what next?
• You will need to appoint a trustee.
• Who do you trust more than anyone else?
• Of course your West Palm Beach probate litigator.
• So is picking your attorney to serve as a trustee a good idea?

Appointing Your Attorney as a Trustee

• Appointing your West Palm Beach probate and estate-planning attorney as your trust’s trustee is not as simple as it sounds.
• Your attorney owes you a duty.
• A trustee owes all beneficiaries a duty.
• Most of the time these two rights do no conflict.
• But what happens if they do?
• Your attorney should review these potential conflicts before you make an appointment of a trustee.
• Although an attorney is usually trust worthy and knowledgeable about trusts, appointing your own personal attorney may not be a good idea.
• So who can you appoint?

Professional Trustees

• First of all it should go without saying you may want to consider appointing a family member as a trustee.
• The fact that they are not financial experts may not be a problem as they could delegate this duty to a professional.
• Also if that is not what you want to do there are also plenty of companies that are professional trustees in West Palm Beach.
• Consider looking into a bank or professional trustee company.
• Keep in mind though if you choose a bank that bank cannot purchase its own stock to make a trust asset, this would be self dealing.