Setting Up Your Estate? Why You Need A Successor Trustee
Planning your estate is a very smart thing to do. You just never know when death will strike, and if you don't have a solid will in place, your dependents could be left out in the cold. Part of planning your estate involves appointing a trustee. This is the person who will be responsible for distributing your assets according to your last wishes. It's great to have a trustee in place, but you should go a step further by also appointing a successor trustee as well.
A Successor Trustee Is A Wise Backup Plan
When you appoint a trustee, you can only hope that they will remain alive and sound enough to perform the duties that you have assigned to them. Maybe some of your beneficiaries will still be minors at the time of your death and you want the trustee to handle their financial affairs and make sure they have what they need to make it through life. This works well if the trustee stays around, but if something happens to them, your minor beneficiaries could be left out in the cold.
Putting a solid backup plan in place is a great way to keep things rolling the way you would like for them to. The successor trustee takes over if the original trustee is injured and becomes incapacitated in some way or if they happen to die an untimely death. Your successor trustee can then take over by managing the estate. This person might also appoint a successor trustee for themselves so that everything continues as you wish, no matter what happens to them.
Successor Trustees Can Perform Interim Work
If your original trustee has an illness or other emergency and cannot oversee the assets for a limited amount of time, the successor trustee can step in. They can take control of the estate while the original trustee focuses on getting well. It's very important to have this kind of setup because if there is no one there to administer the estate, the government might have to step in or an old debtor could try to seize the assets because there is no one there to keep a tight watch over everything.
Assigning a successor trustee gives you so much peace of mind. You will have a nearly foolproof system already set up to ensure that those you care about the most have access to the financial assets and properties that you've worked to accumulate.
For professional help setting up your successor trustee, contact a legal company such as Pendleton Square Trust.