Margaret A. Munro - Estate and Trust Administration For Dummies

Estate & Trust Administration For Dummies, 2nd Edition

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Copyright 2019 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, New Jersey

Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, New Jersey

Published simultaneously in Canada

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Library of Congress Control Number: 2018955187

ISBN 978-1-119-54387-9 (pbk); ISBN 978-1-119-54397-8 (ebk); ISBN 978-1-119-54385-5 (ebk)

This country is aging. Fewer babies are being born, and people are living longer and longer. Theyre also managing to accumulate more and more wealth. Wealth is relative; two generations ago, a middle-income family owned a house and maybe a car and perhaps even had a little money in the bank. Today, that scenario has become much more complicated. Many who would never consider themselves wealthy now own more than one home and have investments in the stock market, retirement accounts that continue on after death, and debt up to their eyeballs.

With this increased complexity in financial affairs comes a parallel complexity in transferring all these accumulated assets to the next generation(s), either at death or before. In the past, heavy-duty trusts were only for the very wealthy; today, theyve become part of the legal landscape for ordinary Americans. And because ours is a do-it-yourself society in so many aspects, that I-can-do-it-myself attitude has carried over into trust and estate administration. Why, many people ask, should they pay someone else to do work that they themselves can perform just as well for a fraction of the cost?

And thats why we wrote the second edition of this book. Between the two of us, we have more than 60 years of estate and trust administration experience. In that time, weve come across some unusual situations in our careers and devised ways to avoid standard pitfalls that await the unwary. We wrote this book to share with you some of this accumulated wisdom and to help you avoid the mistakes that weve made (or narrowly avoided).

Estate & Trust Administration For Dummies, 2nd Edition, is the practical reference for those who find themselves appointed as executor, administrator, or personal representative of an estate, or as trustee of a trust. In these pages, you can find advice on what to do and what to avoid as you acquire, manage, and dispose of assets that belong to the estate or trust youre administering.

The world of estate and trust administration is one that can baffle you before you ever get out of the starting gate. Youre asked to make decisions literally before youve had the opportunity to process that your friend or family member has died. In those first days after a death, when so much of the world seems like its at sixes and sevens, you need to decide about the funeral, collect house keys, find the decedents last will the list seems endless, and so are the opportunities to have seemingly innocuous items fall through the cracks.

Thats where this book comes in. We designed it to explain how you can administer an estate or trust by yourself. It gives you guidelines on what aspects of the work you can undertake on your own and which areas you really want to ask for an expert to help you.

Simply put, this book allows you to create and follow a road map toward successfully completing your appointed task without ripping out your hair and running into the streets screaming. You can use this book in a couple of ways:

• As a reference: Everythings here, whether you have questions about probate, taxes, or how to plan a funeral. The world of trusts and estates can seem complicated, but its all governed by common sense and rules (and plenty of them).
• As an advisor: Some problems may seem unsolvable when you first confront them, but rarely is that truly the case. This book can help you find what questions you need to ask and who you should look to for answers. It gives you solid advice that you can literally take to the bank and lets you know when you would be better served by seeking professional advice.