Estate Planning · Trust administration
You've been named successor trustee. Here's the job.
When the person who made a trust dies, the successor trustee settles it: collects what the trust owns, pays what it owes, and distributes what's left as the trust directs. No court, but real duties and real deadlines. We walk you through it, or do it with you.
What a successor trustee has to do
- Accept the role and gather the trust document, any amendments, and death certificates.
- Get a tax ID for the trust. While the maker was alive the trust used their Social Security number. After death it needs its own number before an account can be retitled.
- Notify the beneficiaries. Missouri's trust code requires trustees to keep beneficiaries reasonably informed; we prepare the notices.
- Inventory and secure the assets, and find out what was never actually put in the trust. Those assets may need a small-estate affidavit or probate.
- Pay debts, expenses and taxes, including the final income tax return and the trust's own return.
- Distribute as the trust says, with receipts, and account to the beneficiaries.
Guidance, or the whole job
Guided administration. You do the work with our checklist, templates and advice at each step. Fixed fee per phase.
Full administration. We prepare the notices, the tax ID application, the retitling, the accountings and the distribution documents; you review and sign. Fixed fee per phase, quoted in writing.
If a family member serves as trustee, Missouri allows reasonable compensation unless the trust says otherwise. We'll explain how that works.
How it works
Most revocable trusts are settled within a year. The pace is set by the assets, not the court.
- PHASE 1
Getting started
Acceptance, death certificates, tax ID, notices to beneficiaries, a shared checklist.
- PHASE 2
Marshalling
Inventory, valuations, retitling accounts to the trust's new tax ID, dealing with anything left outside the trust.
- PHASE 3
Debts and taxes
Creditor payments, final returns, the trust's own return, reserves for anything still open.
- PHASE 4
Distribution and close
Distributions, receipts and releases, a final accounting, and the file closed.
Where trustees get into trouble
- Distributing too early, before debts and taxes are settled, and then owing the difference personally.
- Mixing money. Trust funds go in a trust account under the trust's tax ID, never in the trustee's own account.
- Silence. Beneficiaries who aren't told what's happening assume the worst. Regular, simple accountings prevent most disputes.
- The house nobody deeded. If the home was never transferred into the trust, it isn't the trust's to distribute. It may need probate after all.
How we charge
Fixed fees per phase, quoted in writing at the first meeting, so the trust's beneficiaries can see exactly what administration cost. No surprises in the final accounting.
Common questions
General information about Missouri law, not advice about your situation.
Do I have to go to court?
Not for the trust's assets. That's the point of a trust. Court involvement arises only for assets left outside it, or if there's a dispute.
The trust was written by a lawyer who has retired. Can you still help?
Yes. We administer trusts drafted by other lawyers all the time. Bring the trust document and any amendments.
Can I be paid for serving as trustee?
Missouri allows reasonable compensation unless the trust says otherwise (RSMo 456.7-708). Many family trustees waive it; some don't. Either way it should be documented.
What if the beneficiaries disagree with me?
Follow the document, keep records, and communicate. Most disagreements come from surprise, not substance. If a real dispute develops, we'll tell you your options early.
Can the firm serve as trustee?
In some circumstances Bobby can serve as successor trustee when a client asks, with the terms disclosed and agreed in writing. It's a conversation to have while planning, not after.
Related services
Named as trustee? Start with a conversation.
We'll tell you what the job involves for this trust, how long it should take and what it costs.