Professional Executor and Trustee Service

The potential benefits of involving a professional executor and /or trustee are considerable.

First of all you can be sure that a qualified person is involved in the administration of your Estate from the outset. If there are any tax implications on your estate from investments, property etc they will be properly dealt with.

Secondly, by involving a professional you have in effect bought insurance for your Estate. If your Estate is not administered correctly, or your Executors and Trustees stray from your stated wishes, then your beneficiaries will have someone they can sue to recover appropriate damages. A proper professional will have indemnity insurance that should meet such claims, a lay person will not.

Thirdly, because the professional has nothing to gain, and everything to lose by not following your instructions, it is more likely that your wishes will be fulfilled. Contrast this with a family member, who may not be so strong in resisting a persistent demand from a beneficiary to access a bequest earlier than intended, or who may even whittle away the assets before they can be passed on to your intended beneficiary.

Fourthly, should a beneficiary also be a trustee this could be viewed as a conflict of interest under evolving trust law and if a beneficiary is able to control trust assets in a relatively unfettered manner, then it is more likely that a court will order the beneficiary to apply those assets to meet a claim, whether from a trustee in bankruptcy or an estranged spouse. However, if you have appointed a professional trustee, who has a real involvement in the proper administration of the trust assets, then it is significantly more difficult for a third party to have access to those assets.

Please contact us to find out more on how Estate Legacy Services can help.