Why You May Need a Pro Trustee: Trust Administration is Not Just Common Sense
As an officer at a trust company, I often find myself defending the use of a professional trustee to attorneys and prospects. Typically, criticisms of trustees center around fees, locality and beneficiaries' perceived lack of access to funds and to the administrator.
Occasionally, though, I hear this challenge: "Trust administration just isn't that difficult." The reported court cases between unhappy beneficiaries and equally unhappy related trustees indicate otherwise. Here's a story that illustrates how common-sense solutions can lead to unanticipated consequences that professional trustees know to avoid.
A retired attorney (let's call her Betty) is in search of a successor trustee. Betty's parents had identical estate plans with trusts for Betty's two siblings
