Successor trustee recommendation

[Mark@K-Town]

I worked with my parents to establish a trust for my younger (disabled) brother. The trust has three components: an inherited IRA, a “Special Needs” trust, and a conventional “For Benefit Of” trust. I am named in the trust documents as the Advisor to the Trustee, and as such I have the authority to replace the Trustee. About a dozen years have gone by since my parents passed away. I am now considering replacing the Trustee and would like to hear from anyone with similar experience who could suggest/recommend successor trustee candidates, either corporate firms or individuals.

I need the successor trustee to provide bill paying services for my brother, tax management services, and property management service (for my brother’s residence), but I don’t need investment portfolio management services. The investments are at Vanguard and are passively managed (only a half dozen index funds that are rebalanced annually). Other than annual rebalancing, there is also an annual RMD from the inherited IRA to the cash account that is used to pay my brother’s bills.

[pdxgal]

This is a tough one. I'm starting to prepare my own living trust and have a similar need. Who's the current Trustee? What's the impetus to replace them?

FWIW AARP had an article by Jean Chatzky that addressed the "solo ager". The article suggested hiring a bill-paying service for day-to-day money management, and an accountant or attorney for the bigger financial decisions. In your case you could also hire a property management company. The Trustee would then manage all three (in theory anyway).

The same article said you can find a bill-pay service through the American Association of Daily Money Managers, or SilverBills, a company that reviews bills and authorizes payments for a flat monthly fee.

It's a thorny issue for sure. Your post is almost a year old now, so curious what has transpired since. Any progress?

[OldShooter]

Sorry I can't give you links, but there are nonprofit organizations that specialize in managing special needs trusts. A quick Google search did give me some hits that look to be worth exploring.

[Dash man]

Schwab has a good trust department that we’ve named as corporate trustee for our trusts after we’re gone. Their fees are not as high as many places.

[MrsHaloFIRE]

We just went through this writing our living trust and trust for our daughter. Our successor trustee is a local bank. We worked closely with a local estate attorney and he suggested a local bank because we are in a large city and we have several that are competent. I interviewed 2 and chose 1. Spoke to a trust officer and portfolio manager. They will babysit our portfolio and final expenses if we go crackers and our daughter is not of age. And if we pop clogs they will babysit her portfolio.