Choosing a Successor Trustee?

[SunnyOne]

If you don't have a competent person to turn to, do you just call your bank's trust department?


Did you go local? to a nationwide corporation?


When seeking one, what is important? I mean, to be crass, you'll never really know how it all turned out.(?)

 

[Safire]

I have an autistic son who has the intellectual ability of a 4 yr old. My hope is that my other child will be able to take over his finances after our time & - hopefully- check in on him once every few months if he's living in a group home, file taxes, take him on vacations, fund whatever he needs etc.

If Sibling refuses or is unable to take over (who knows what life holds), our intention is to look for non-profits (that's a new concept in CA about master trusts etc that we're researching). If that fails, we'll have to nominate the bank as the trustee & hope our son doesn't outlive his trust. It's something I worry about every day.

Good luck!

 

[DrRoy]

If a bank or company, make sure to specify their fee.

 

[Spock]

I'm in the same boat, but don't have an answer.

I will point out that language such as "when my Dr. decides its necessary" is not a good trigger to engage the successor.


Dad appointed me as successor trustee. Then declining cognitive abilities + a brain injury from a fall = he tried to give his house to a home health aide (that was already on a state register of offenders scamming the elderly) and tried to withdraw all of his bank account to give to some guy on the phone for safe keeping.

4 Doctors (including his primary care dr.) plus the hospital social worker all refused to engage. They must have all taken the same liability class because they all parroted the same line: "He's still making decisions, they're just bad decisions".

We're about 80K in legal fees and 2 years into getting him declared incompetent despite having a family trust, POAs, wills, etc all lined up prior.

 

[wolf]

If you have a simple Trust. Successor Trustee, is just going to manage the disbursements of the Trust assets, then should be fairly easy.

If you need a Trustee to "manage" the Trust over period of time. Then gets more complicated. (special needs situation).

I was told hiring a "financial" institution can be expensive, and difficult for beneficiaries
to work with the financial institution if there are complications.

Good luck.

 

[OldShooter]

Your attorney can advise. We have designated Schwab more out of faith than extensive due diligence. Their fees are much less than banks. Our estate plan creates four trusts.

 

[ncbill]

I'm in the same boat, but don't have an answer.

I will point out that language such as "when my Dr. decides its necessary" is not a good trigger to engage the successor.


Dad appointed me as successor trustee. Then declining cognitive abilities + a brain injury from a fall = he tried to give his house to a home health aide (that was already on a state register of offenders scamming the elderly) and tried to withdraw all of his bank account to give to some guy on the phone for safe keeping.

4 Doctors (including his primary care dr.) plus the hospital social worker all refused to engage. They must have all taken the same liability class because they all parroted the same line: "He's still making decisions, they're just bad decisions".

We're about 80K in legal fees and 2 years into getting him declared incompetent despite having a family trust, POAs, wills, etc all lined up prior.

This is why I had myself & sibling appointed as co-trustees instead of sucessor on mom's trust, thought that was setup AFTER her terminal diagnosis.

 

[CRLLS]

I'm in the same boat, but don't have an answer.

I will point out that language such as "when my Dr. decides its necessary" is not a good trigger to engage the successor.


Dad appointed me as successor trustee. Then declining cognitive abilities + a brain injury from a fall = he tried to give his house to a home health aide (that was already on a state register of offenders scamming the elderly) and tried to withdraw all of his bank account to give to some guy on the phone for safe keeping.

4 Doctors (including his primary care dr.) plus the hospital social worker all refused to engage. They must have all taken the same liability class because they all parroted the same line: "He's still making decisions, they're just bad decisions".


We're about 80K in legal fees and 2 years into getting him declared incompetent despite having a family trust, POAs, wills, etc all lined up prior.

SO very sorry to hear this. My though is, if Dad was so willing to give away his house or bank accounts, it might be fairly easy for his son (you) to convince him to resign from being the trustee, thus giving you the power over his trust finances. Hopefully the home and his bank accounts would already be in that trust or if not, then to move them to the trust.

 

[googily]

I have my brother set up as mine, more to be there to handle things if I become unable, but if I knew for sure that my demise would come in the front grill of a bus I'd rather have a bank handle the disposition of my assets.

That said, he's not the only one who holds my health care POA. I don't want the one who would most benefit from my death being the only one making the call about pulling the plug. [emoji1787]

 

[Midpack]

We don’t have kids so we have two sibs first in line. Two other sibs we don’t trust so a favorite niece is third in line. After that we haven’t specified yet, but there are 2-3 other nieces/nephews (of 8) or our trust attorney if necessary. Like someone noted above, other than not creating any more work/burden than necessary, we won’t care how our estate is settled if we’re gone…

 

[jebmke]

We don’t have kids so we have two sibs first in line. Two other sibs we don’t trust so a favorite niece is third in line. After that we haven’t specified yet, but there are 2-3 other nieces/nephews (of 8) or our trust attorney if necessary. Like someone noted above, other than not creating any more work/burden than necessary, we won’t care how our estate is settled if we’re gone…

We are in same situation but keep in mind that acting as the trustee isn't just settling the estate; if you are incapacitated, the role can go on for a long time.

My assessment right now is that sibs/nieces et al have enough constraints in their lives that they are probably not viable.

We will probably look for a regional bank trust office to handle. However, we have still not figured out how to handle matters that take place outside the purview of the trusts.

 

[Koolau]

Your attorney can advise. We have designated Schwab more out of faith than extensive due diligence. Their fees are much less than banks. Our estate plan creates four trusts.

Your attorney SHOULD be able to advise. The sticking point we are having with setting up a trust is exactly this question. The attorney suggested a bank. Yeah, right!

 

[rodi]

The doctor trigger is indeed a thing. When my MIL was showing enough signs of dementia, while being caregiver for FIL (wheelchair bound and dementia), Adult Protective Services got involved. (After she tried to pull FIL out of the hospital when he clearly needed medical attention.) It was a long process and MIL's doctor tried to refuse to issue the statement confirming her dementia till APS pointed out she was legally required to fill out the paperwork (this was Kentucky, btw). That reluctance dragged the process on 2 extra months.

Our trusts call for either doctor and spouse agreeing on incompetence or 3 people from a list. In my case it's DH, my sister, and my BFF. In my husband's case it's me, my sis, and his sis. (We are close to my sister).

The estate attorneys mentioned the reluctance of doctors to state competency - hence the 3 people in agreement as a backup.

 

[braumeister]

Our trusts call for either doctor and spouse agreeing on incompetence or 3 people from a list.

That sounds like a very smart provision. Congratulations on setting that up.

 

[SecondAttempt]

Your attorney SHOULD be able to advise. The sticking point we are having with setting up a trust is exactly this question. The attorney suggested a bank. Yeah, right!

I don't think that is necessarily bad advice but it is not the route I would take either. For a corporate successor trustee you need someone like a fee only financial planner that will be trustee for a fee and not profit from its actions, i. e. trading or investments.

If the successor trustee's role is simply to dispose of assets in an orderly manner, distribute the cash, and dissolve the trust, a bank may be perfectly fine but personally I would probably choose an attorney.

If you expect your trust to survive you by a substantial period of time and manage assets to distribute to charities and heirs, care for a disabled childor whatever, it gets more challenging. You will need to pay them even if a relative because it is a substantial amount of work.

The bottom line is that you should expect to pay the trustee but you should set up mechanisms so they cannot abuse the trust. Most banks want language that could allow them to abuse the trust and that is why I would prefer an attorney where ethics prevent them from abuse (at least in theory).

 

[Spock]

The doctor trigger is indeed a thing. When my MIL was showing enough signs of dementia, while being caregiver for FIL (wheelchair bound and dementia), Adult Protective Services got involved. (After she tried to pull FIL out of the hospital when he clearly needed medical attention.) It was a long process and MIL's doctor tried to refuse to issue the statement confirming her dementia till APS pointed out she was legally required to fill out the paperwork (this was Kentucky, btw). That reluctance dragged the process on 2 extra months.

Our trusts call for either doctor and spouse agreeing on incompetence or 3 people from a list. In my case it's DH, my sister, and my BFF. In my husband's case it's me, my sis, and his sis. (We are close to my sister).

The estate attorneys mentioned the reluctance of doctors to state competency - hence the 3 people in agreement as a backup.

Interesting concept of having the 3 people on the list.
Is it some sort of 2 out of 3 agree or if any 1 person thinks you're incompetent?


At one point I was thinking of specifying a minimum score on the dementia/cognitive tests (MEMS, SLUMs that Drs and assisted living facilities use to screen independent living/assisted living/memory care) but my dad still "passed" (borderline) those assessments despite having "severe cognitive impairment" determined by a psychologist. The scored Dr office tests rely too much on math (count backward by 7) etc. and don't catch executive functions/critical thinking. (Plus somedays I question if I could pass the screen test now...)

One aspect that tosses all of the advanced planning in the trash is the courts involvement required to get somebody declared incompetent or otherwise removed from interfering with the successor trustee.


In AZ, a diagnosed dementia patient is still able to have a say in who their conservator/successor trustee will be. If the patient happens to be angry that somebody is taking over their affairs, POOF! They can not only have a 3rd party to manage their $ (at $125/hr), but if the patient can roughly list their assets and remember the names of immediate family members (not including grandkids) the court will let the patient name new heirs.

 

[marko]

DW and I have no children but have 4 different, fairly complicated trusts. In the event that both DW and I have passed (no incompetency clauses), we have her brother as an alternate trustee.

A good portion of the trusts are for the care of my disabled/incompetent brother and the rest to nieces and nephews.

Her brother is a director level of a large national bank/credit card company so he's capable. Should he not be available, we've listed his daughter (another high roller professional) as our alternate.

My brother also has his own trusts (we are now trustees since his stroke) which would only become relevant should we predecease him but again her brother/niece would have to handle that as well.