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.