Serving as a Trustee can be an honor and a challenge. For instance, this may be the first time you have had to manage legal, financial, and administrative matters at this level. Even if it is not your first time, that does not change the reality that managing a loved one’s estate can be emotional, time-consuming, and overwhelming. As a result, it is not uncommon for Trustees to feel uncertain about where to begin or how best to collaborate with the professionals who will guide them through the process.

The following 6 tips for working successfully with an estate planning attorney offer practical guidance on working effectively—and efficiently—with your estate planning attorney and other professional advisors.

Attorneys, CPAs, and financial advisors each play essential roles in the proper administration of a Trust. However, working with these professionals requires clarity, respect, and communication.

Keep these tips in mind as you move forward in the process.

Use Qualified Local Professionals

Try to use an experienced professional when seeking assistance from an attorney, CPA, or other professional. By this, we mean a person who regularly handles estate and Trust matters as part of their professional practice.

You are not required to work with the attorney who drafted the estate plan. For instance, some drafting attorneys do not provide administrative services. Some attorneys may have drafted numerous Living Trusts and estate plans, but have only administered a few. Some attorneys are knowledgeable and experienced in certain aspects of Trust administration, such as inventorying, accounting, and asset distribution, but not in other areas, such as complex estates.

Similarly, some CPAs are excellent at preparing income tax returns for the Trust, but have not done many estate tax returns.

You may need more than one professional in an area to work together as a team to assist you. The attorney you select may then help you find an appropriate CPA, financial advisor, appraiser, and other professionals. We recommend that you see the attorney first, since they are usually in the best position to “quarterback” the team of professionals you will need.

Clearly Ascertain Duties

Be clear about your responsibilities, as well as those of the attorneys and other advisors. For example, you may be responsible for collecting all required asset information and valuations. The attorney may be responsible for preparing all necessary legal documents, including re-titling of assets. Typically, the attorney will outline in his or her engagement letter and initial correspondence to you, in detail, your respective responsibilities.

Keep in mind that the attorney has no responsibility or duty to advise beneficiaries, as they only represent you as the Trustee.

Understand Fees

Clearly understand how the attorney or other advisors will charge fees. Will you be charged on an hourly rate as work is done, on a fixed or flat fee basis, on a percentage of estate value or assets under management, or on some combination of these? Will your payment be all up front, in several payments, or partly due up front and partly upon completion of the work?

What services will be included, and which ones will not? Will you be billed extra for phone calls, meetings, copying, court costs, messenger fees, and other similar expenses? These questions should all be answered clearly in the advisor’s Engagement Agreement, which should be read by you and signed in advance of the advisor commencing work.

Communicate Protocols

Immediately establish with your attorney and other advisors the most efficient manner of communication. Typically, the attorney or other advisors will have their own “protocol” for handling your phone calls, emails, and other correspondence.

Usually, you and the advisor should designate a paralegal or staff person as the one you turn to first for assistance. When necessary, you can use this person as an intermediary to get questions answered and tasks completed more quickly. Realize that the professional may often be tied up during the day in meetings or on other phone calls.

Manage your expectations by having a clear understanding with your attorney or other advisor, up front, as to when your phone calls will be returned and tasks will be completed.

As stated above, the attorney may designate a contact person for you to call. Alternatively, schedule periodic meetings with the attorney or other advisor and save your non-urgent matters for those meetings. Respond promptly and as thoroughly as possible to requests made by your attorneys and other advisors. When they receive late or incomplete information from you, it may make it difficult, and even impossible, for them to complete their tasks in a timely and accurate manner.

Providing critical information at the last minute can also place undue pressure on these professionals and cause mistakes that might not otherwise occur. Since you, the Trustee, are primarily responsible and potentially personally liable for not only your own actions but the actions of other professionals whom you hire, you must give them the appropriate opportunity to do their jobs calmly, completely, and accurately.

Be Professional

Always be civil and courteous with the professional and all members of his or her staff. Handling the administration of a Trust can, at times, become aggravating and emotional, particularly because you are not only dealing with the incapacity, disability, or death of someone who may have been close to you, but you may also have to deal with friends or relatives who are the beneficiaries. They may, from time to time, not be very civil or courteous to you.

It is crucial that you not transfer your or the beneficiary’s anxiety or anger onto the professional and his or her team, as this will almost always be counterproductive and may result in them terminating their relationship with you.

Be Honest

To efficiently administer or manage the estate, you must be honest and forthcoming with the attorney at all times. Suppose some circumstances or developments impair your ability to exercise your powers and fulfill your duties as the Trustee. In that case, you must communicate such circumstances and developments to your attorney.

Call Leigh Hilton PLLC Today!!

Having a competent attorney in your corner will help you and your family navigate the often overwhelming waters of protecting everything you own and everyone you love. That is our job, and we think we do it better than anyone else. Call Leigh Hilton PLLC so we can help ensure you and your family are taken care of in the best possible way.

Leigh Hilton PLLC wants to be your first call every time for any estate planning need. We look forward to serving you.