Before you finish your estate plan, there are many things to consider. Two things are picking the right trust, and just as important, picking the right Springfield, Illinois, trustee.
Do not keep it in the family
Your estate plan is a deeply personal endeavor, and many facets of the estate plan include your friends and family. However, your trustee should usually not be a friend or family member, unless you happen to be friends or kin to a professional trustee. This is because the trustee position is a professional position that requires skill and knowledge.
How to choose a trustee
Choosing a Springfield, Illinois, trustee is like choosing any other service. You need to select the service that is best for you and your goals. For the trust selection process, this means selecting the professional trustee or corporate trust service that is best for your trust and your goals for that trust. And, in this blog, we will hopefully, provide you with some tips.
Cost
First, as with most things in life, the first question is cost. The key cost question for a potential professional trustee or corporate trust service is their comprehensive fee, which is their bundled fee. This should include all of their fees for broker, CPA, attorney, real estate, etc., services, in addition to their own fee.
Make sure you are also not paying fees for services not related to your trust. For example, if your trust does not contain real estate assets, if fees associated with property management can be extracted from the comprehensive fee, that should be known upfront. This can be key to making sure you are comparing apples to apples when comparing fees for Springfield, Illinois, trustees.
Legal and reporting compliance
Trusts are legal entities that have state and federal legal and reporting compliance requirements. You need to make sure that the potential trustee has the knowledge and experience with your specific trust type before contracting with them. You do not want to be their first.
Safeguards
Finally, make sure that the potential Springfield, Illinois, trustee has the appropriate safeguards in place. This includes insurance and assets sufficient to survive a lawsuit.