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Posted Jan 23rd, 2012
My wife and I have no children. Is it feasible to have a trust firm handle our estate?



Legal Topic Area: Estate Planning in CA | 2 Answers

1st Answer

There are a lot of great options for being the fiduciary of your trust and estate. In my mind the main options are:

- Bank or trust company

- Professional fiduciary

- CPA

- Attorney

- TRUSTED friend or relative

For large estates certainly a bank or trust company is a nice option to consider. However, for most people I think a private professional fiduciary is the best option. You can find a list of professionals in your part of California at pfac-pro.org

I find that professional fiduciaries are often better than banks as they tend to be more personal. Also, some got their start as social workers and are familiar with helping people with issues as they age.

Also your estate planning attorney should be able to recommend some good ones.

Good luck with your planning! -John


Answered on Jan 24th, 2012 at 12:03pm


Other Answers

Estate planning is what I assume you are doing, and certainly. A firm that does trusts and estates work will normally do estate planning work. The law of succession (which governs if you die without having done estate planning) will (with probate administration) pass your property to your "next of kin" under California law. If you want to favor one person over another, or give part of your estate to friends or to charity, that won't happen unless you do estate planning. There are a number of other items that should be covered as well. Many estate planning attorneys will offer their first client meeting without charge.


Answered on Feb 5th, 2012 at 2:12pm