Fee-only advisors for newly-named successor trustees and trust administrators.
Being named successor trustee is a significant fiduciary responsibility that most people are unprepared for. Duties include prudent investment (Uniform Prudent Investor Act), impartial distribution to beneficiaries, tax filings (Form 1041), accounting to beneficiaries, and strategic decisions around distribution timing vs trust accumulation. Truste
What our matched specialists handle
- I just became trustee of my parent's trust — what do I do first?
- Trust investment policy — what should the portfolio look like?
- Distribution to siblings — how do I handle disputes?
- Trust income tax — who files the 1041 and what goes on it?
- Should I hire a corporate co-trustee to share liability?
- Grandchild trust — HEMS standard distributions, how do I apply?
Tools & guides
Successor Trustee First 90 Days Checklist
Enter trust details to generate a prioritized checklist of fiduciary duties for the first 90 days.
Trustee Compensation Calculator
Find a defensible annual fee range using asset-based and time-based methods. Understand what corporate trustees charge.
Trustee Liability and Protection
What creates personal liability as a trustee, how surcharge claims work, and the documentation practices that protect you.
Successor Trustee Complete Guide
Detailed framework — rules, tradeoffs, and common mistakes.
Form 1041 Trustee Tax Guide
When trusts must file, 2026 compressed tax brackets, the 65-day distribution election, K-1s to beneficiaries, and estimated payments.
Trust Investment Policy Guide
UPIA compliance, balancing income vs remainder beneficiaries, IPS components, asset allocation frameworks, and the concentrated-stock problem.
Trust Distribution Decisions
HEMS standard with examples, the tax case for distributing vs. accumulating income, how to document every decision, and handling sibling disputes.
How to Close a Trust After Death
Step-by-step: securing assets, paying debts, filing the final Form 1041, preparing the final accounting, collecting receipts and releases, and making final distributions.
Step-Up in Basis Guide
Which trust assets get a stepped-up cost basis at death (IRC § 1014), which don't (IRAs, annuities), the alternate valuation date election, and the community property double step-up.
IRAs and Trusts
Most IRAs bypass the trust entirely. But when a trust is named as IRA beneficiary, successor trustees face the 10-year rule, possible annual RMDs, and a significant compressed-bracket tax trap.
Corporate Co-Trustee: When to Hire One
When a corporate co-trustee makes sense, what they charge (typically 1–1.5%/year), how to evaluate candidates, and the fee-only advisor alternative for most individual trustees.
How to Resign as Successor Trustee
Can you resign? Yes. The steps differ depending on whether you've formally accepted the role. What the 30-day notice requires, your continuing liability, and what happens to the trust next.
Credit Shelter Trust Administration (Bypass Trust)
When a parent's AB trust splits at death, you're managing two separate trusts. What the bypass trust requires — mandatory income distributions, Form 1041, and the no-second-step-up trap most trustees miss.
Special Needs Trust Administration
When a parent's trust includes an SNT provision for a disabled beneficiary, a wrong distribution can eliminate SSI and Medicaid eligibility. What successor trustees must know about shelter ISM, the 2024 food rule change, and the cash prohibition.
Trustee Accounting to Beneficiaries
Your legal duty under UTC § 813: what annual accountings must contain, who receives them, how to properly waive the requirement, and why regular accounting is your best protection against surcharge claims.
Generation-Skipping Trust Administration
Grandchildren or great-grandchildren as beneficiaries? GST trusts add a 40% generation-skipping tax on distributions to skip persons, multi-generational investment duties, and Crummey notice requirements most trustees don't expect.
QTIP Trust Administration (Marital Trust)
QTIP trusts require the trustee to distribute all income to the surviving spouse, file a separate Form 1041, and invest impartially between current and remainder beneficiaries — while assets build toward a step-up in basis at the second death.
Handling Beneficiary Disputes
Distribution fights, investment complaints, information demands, and removal petitions — what triggers them, your legal duties under UTC §§ 803 and 813, and how documented process protects you personally.
Managing Real Estate in a Trust
How to sell, rent, or distribute property held in trust — trustee's deed requirements, trust capital gains tax (23.8% federal on gains above $16,250), and the California Prop 19 property tax trap.
ILIT Administration (Irrevocable Life Insurance Trust)
Annual Crummey notice requirements, premium oversight duties, the death claim process, income-tax-free proceeds under IRC § 101(a), and whether your ILIT still makes sense after the OBBBA $15M exemption.
Can an Irrevocable Trust Be Modified? Decanting, NJSAs, and Court Modification
Irrevocable doesn't mean unchanged. The four legal paths to modifying trust terms — consent, trust decanting, nonjudicial settlement agreement, or court petition — with tax consequences and when to use each.
Trustee vs. Executor: Your Dual Role When a Parent Dies
Adult children are often named both executor and successor trustee simultaneously. These are separate legal roles covering different assets, different timelines, and different tax filings — here's exactly how they work together.
Can a Trustee Also Be a Beneficiary?
Adult children named both successor trustee and beneficiary of a parent's trust face specific self-dealing traps and impartiality obligations. What you can and cannot do — and how to protect yourself.
How to Get a Trust EIN After Death
When the settlor dies, the trust immediately needs its own tax ID number — banks and brokerages won't re-title accounts without it. Step-by-step IRS application guide, what information you need, and exactly what to do with the EIN once you have it.
Spendthrift Trust Administration
Most revocable trusts include a spendthrift clause. When a beneficiary's creditor calls, you need to know exactly what the clause protects, when it doesn't (child support, IRS tax liens), and how to avoid personal liability for getting it wrong.
Trust Distributions to Minor Beneficiaries
A minor can't legally receive trust funds directly. Your three options — continuing sub-trust, UTMA custodianship, court guardian — plus the kiddie tax trap most trustees miss when distributing income to a child.
Trust Asset Inventory and Date-of-Death Valuation
How to locate all trust assets, sort what passes through trust vs. probate vs. beneficiary designation, and establish IRS-defensible date-of-death values for stocks, mutual funds, and real estate — with a step-by-step inventory document guide.
How to Transfer Financial Accounts to a Trust After Death
What banks, brokerages, and custodians actually require to retitle accounts in the trust's name — the ACAT in-kind transfer process, Certificate of Trust vs. full document, why you should never liquidate before transferring, and realistic timelines.
Successor Trustee During Settlor Incapacity
When a parent develops dementia or has a stroke, you step in — but the rules are different from post-death administration. No EIN, no Form 1041, same SSN. Medicaid's treatment of revocable trust assets is a trap most new trustees don't see coming.
Digital Assets in a Trust: Bitcoin, Crypto & Online Accounts
If your parent held Bitcoin or crypto, you may have a week to find the seed phrase before access is gone forever. How to locate digital assets, establish RUFADAA authority, document date-of-death values, claim the step-up in basis, and navigate new Form 1099-DA broker reporting.
Trust Distribution Modeling Calculator
Model the federal tax impact of distributing vs. retaining trust income at any distribution percentage. Compare scenarios, estimate the 65-day election benefit, and see exactly how much the compressed trust brackets cost you.
How Much Does Trust Administration Cost?
A realistic budget breakdown — attorney fees, CPA fees, trustee compensation, financial advisor fees, and appraisals. Which fees are deductible on Form 1041, and how to keep total costs under control.
IRC § 645 Election: Treat the Revocable Trust as Part of the Estate for Income Taxes
A little-known election that lets newly-named trustees avoid quarterly estimated tax payments, choose a fiscal year for income deferral, and pool estate deductions against trust income. Hard deadline: the due date of the first Form 1041, including extensions.
S-Corporation Stock in a Trust: QSST and ESBT Elections
If the trust holds S-corp shares, you have a 2-month-16-day election window — not two years — to make the QSST or ESBT election. Miss it, and the S-election terminates for all shareholders. A plain-language guide to the election options and the sell-vs.-hold decision.
Partnership and LLC Interests in a Trust: The § 754 Election and Trustee Duties
Family LLCs and FLPs are common trust assets — and the § 754 inside-basis election is one of the most commonly missed tax opportunities in trust administration. When a partner dies, the trust's outside basis is stepped up but the partnership's internal asset basis doesn't change automatically. A guide to the election, transfer restrictions, and UPIA duties.
Concentrated Stock in a Trust: UPIA Diversification Duty and the Step-Up Window
If the trust holds a large position in a single stock, UPIA § 3 creates a personal liability risk if you don't diversify — but the step-up in basis at death may eliminate the embedded capital gain. A guide to the diversification duty, in-kind distribution strategy, charitable alternatives, and how to document the retention decision.
How Long Does Trust Administration Take? A Month-by-Month Timeline
Most revocable trusts take 12–18 months to fully administer. This guide explains what drives the timeline — creditor notice periods, tax filing deadlines, IRS processing times, and asset complexity — with a month-by-month breakdown from death to final distributions.
What Happens to a Revocable Trust When the Grantor Dies
The moment a parent dies, their revocable trust becomes irrevocable, the successor trustee steps in automatically, and the trust becomes a new taxpayer. A complete explanation of what changes legally, financially, and for taxes — and the critical deadlines in the first weeks.
Trustee Removal: Grounds, Process, and How to Protect Yourself
A beneficiary who dislikes your decisions can petition for removal — but courts require proof of serious breach, persistent failure, or co-trustee impairment. What the four removal grounds actually mean, how removal proceedings work, and the documentation practices that make the difference.
Charitable Giving from a Trust: IRC § 642(c) and the QCD Trap
Trusts get an unlimited federal charitable deduction with no AGI limit — but only if the trust document authorizes it and the gift comes from income, not corpus. Plus: why trusts cannot make QCDs from inherited IRAs, a trap that costs many trustees thousands in unnecessary tax.
Certificate of Trust: What It Is and How to Prepare One
Every bank and brokerage will ask for a Certificate of Trust before re-titling accounts. What it must contain under UTC § 1013, how many copies you'll need, what to do when institutions demand the full document instead, and how to keep it current as the trust administration proceeds.
Trustee Powers: What You're Authorized to Do (and What Requires Court Approval)
What you can do as trustee without asking permission — sell assets, borrow money, hire advisors, make tax elections — versus what requires beneficiary consent or court approval. How to read your trust document's powers article, the self-dealing prohibition under UTC § 802, and how to delegate investment management under UPIA § 9.
Trust Beneficiary Rights: What Beneficiaries Can Demand — and What Trustees Must Provide
The full legal framework: the right to an annual accounting, a copy of the trust document, impartial investment and distribution decisions, protection from self-dealing, and the process for compelling a trustee to act or petitioning for removal. Essential reading for every successor trustee and every beneficiary.
How to Read a Trust Document: A Successor Trustee's Guide to the Key Provisions
A practical walkthrough of the seven sections every successor trustee must find and understand before accepting the role: trustee succession, distribution standards (HEMS, absolute discretion, mandatory income), trustee powers, compensation, spendthrift and no-contest clauses, and what to give your CPA and estate attorney.
Do Trustees Need a Surety Bond? Requirements, Costs, and Waivers
Most family trusts waive the bond requirement — but if yours doesn't, you may need to post a surety bond equal to the trust's full asset value before you can legally act. What bonds cost (1–3% of trust assets annually), when they're required, how to find the waiver in your trust document, and how to petition a court to waive a required bond.
Trust vs. Probate: Why Your Parent's Trust Avoids the Courthouse
A trust avoids probate because the trust — not your parent personally — owns the assets. The trust doesn't "die" when the grantor does. A plain-language explanation of what that means in practice, what still ends up in probate anyway, how ancillary probate works for out-of-state real estate, and what to do when you discover unfunded assets.
Portability Election: Preserve Your Parent's Unused Estate Tax Exemption
When a married person dies, their unused $15M federal estate tax exemption can transfer to the surviving spouse — but only if Form 706 is filed within 9 months of death, even when no estate tax is owed. Miss the deadline and that exemption is gone permanently. How the DSUE election works, the 5-year late relief option, and why the GST exemption is different — it's not portable at all.
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Successor Trustee Advisor Match is a matching service. We connect you with vetted fee-only financial advisors in our network — we don't manage money or provide advice ourselves. Advisors in our network are fiduciaries who charge transparent fees (not product commissions), and we match you based on your specific situation.