Trustee for Estate
Selling a Trust Property
Hi, I’m Kim Ward, Real Estate Broker in San Diego, and expert at helping trustees, executors, and administrators with homes in trust or a probate.
Trustee for Estate | Selling a Trust Property.
As the person that is legally obligated to carry out the wishes of your loved one, you’re responsibilities are frequently sensitive and can become complex and time consuming. As a Trustee your duties will include addressing all the legal and tax matters, as well as, helping the family members feel comfortable through out the days, weeks, and even months ahead.
In the early days, you’ll want to review and understand the trust terms. You want to take possession of the trust assets, including all real estate holdings, investments, portfolios, business interests, insurance policies, retirement plans, and all personal valuables. You’ll be developing a plan for federal, state income, and estate taxes. You’ll meet with the family members and beneficiaries, maybe by phone or email. you’ll coordinate appraisals and asset valuation, you’ll develop a trust administration action plan. Understand carrying out the legal matters, by coordinating with legal council and keeping accurate records of accounting details.
You’ll also need to hire a realtor to help guide you through the preparation of marketing and sale of the decedents home. If the decedents home is in San Diego County, my team and I can be your resource, if you’re in another area of the country we can also introduce you to a real estate professional that can help you.
As the person that the decedent appointed to carry out their wishes, you’ll have the responsibility for the following:
- respect the family legacy
- avoid conflicts of interest
- maintain the trust affairs confidentially
- make decisions that reflect the wishes of the trustor
- and protect the estate in any manner necessary
Trustee Kathy shared that she really didn’t have experience in managing an estate. Her sister had children that lived out of the state and she had to explain the process to them via email and phone calls. It was a challenge to help the beneficiaries to understand the timeline of settling the estate, because it was many months to simply get to the point of readying the decedents home for sale. Kathy needed to choose an estate sale company to help with the liquidation of the remaining personal property, then as one of the largest assets of the San Diego trust it was a process and an expense to prepare the home for the highest price and the best terms of sale.
She then interviewed three real estate agents, and chose my team and me to help her because she believed we were her best option. Once that home was sold the process of closing the estate also took months! Kathy shared with me that becoming the trustee for her sisters estate, she had to hone these following skills:
- Good accounting and book keeping
- maintaining accurate records for all income and expenses
- she had to prepare and distribute periodic accountings to the beneficiaries
- and she needed to prepare and file income tax returns, and distribute funds per the trust
Kathy believes that her biggest responsibilities were: teaming with the best professionals, including my team; keeping all the children informed of her progress, and remaining calm. So, this is an overview of some of the details when becoming a trustee. Of course, each estate is unique and having a trusted team to lead, guide, and protect you and the estate will help you to press the EASY button. Thank you for watching! If you have questions, please don’t hesitate to call my office at 619.741.0111, or email at: kimward@horizonrealestate.net, I look forward to helping your thought the process of settling your loved ones estate.
