Thursday, January 21, 2010

Selection of Trustee - Continued


Yesterday, I discussed the pros and cons of selecting a family member or close friend as trustee. Today, I will look at the pros and cons of selecting a professional advisor as your trustee.

As discussed, the selection of those to serve in a fiduciary capacity is a very important decision and serves to protect your assets and distribute them in the manner you would desire. A professional advisor could be an attorney, accountant, insurance agent or financial advisor.
The PROS for selecting a professional are:
(1) they understand the laws under applicable to fiduciaries and trust management
(2) they have served to provide you guidance in your estate affairs and therefore understand your specific wishes and would be in a better position to deal with conflict among beneficiaries
(3) in addition to the laws governing those acting as fiduciary, generally their profession, ie attorney, has an additional code of ethics and professional responsibility imposed upon them when acting on your behalf.
The CONS are:
(1) there is a cost for professional advisor's to serve
(2) they may not have the back up staff to serve if the professional advisor should become incapacitated.

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