You were named successor trustee and now somebody has died. The good news is that you are not going to probate court. The rest of it is a job, and one with personal liability attached.
The first legally significant deadline arrives fast: notice to heirs and beneficiaries, which starts a 120-day clock for anyone who wants to contest the trust.
The order to do things in
- Get certified death certificates. Order more than you think, usually eight to ten.
- Locate the trust and every amendment. Read all of it before you do anything.
- Serve the statutory notice on heirs and beneficiaries. This starts the contest window.
- Get a tax identification number for the trust and open an account in its name.
- Inventory and value everything as of the date of death.
- Secure the property. Change locks, confirm insurance is still in force, redirect mail.
- Deal with debts, final income taxes, and any claims.
- Account to the beneficiaries.
- Distribute, and get releases before you do.
Do not distribute early
The most common way a trustee ends up personally liable is handing out money before debts and taxes are resolved. Once it is gone, getting it back from a sibling who has spent it is a lawsuit you will be funding yourself.
You are a fiduciary now
That means loyalty to the beneficiaries as a group, impartiality between them, and a duty to keep them informed. It also means you cannot buy the house from the trust at a friendly price, even if everyone verbally agrees, without doing it very carefully.
Being a fiduciary and being a grieving family member at the same time is genuinely hard, and it is where most trust litigation starts.
“Most trustee mistakes I clean up are not dishonest. They are a person trying to be fair and informal with their own siblings, and creating a record that looks terrible eighteen months later.”
Delia Vasquez-HartHow long
A simple administration with one house and cooperative beneficiaries runs four to eight months. Add a year if the property has to be sold into a slow market, or if one beneficiary goes quiet and stops signing things.
Questions we get asked
Do I get paid?
Usually yes. Most trusts allow reasonable compensation. Take it or waive it deliberately, and document which you chose, because it has tax consequences either way.
Can I just do this myself?
Some people can, particularly where there is one house and one beneficiary. The risk is not the paperwork, it is the personal liability if you get the sequence wrong.
What if a beneficiary will not respond?
You keep records of every attempt, and eventually you may need a court order to distribute or to deposit their share. Do not simply hold it forever.
What if an asset was never put in the trust?
There is a petition for that, and it is common enough to have its own page. It does not necessarily mean full probate.
Start here
Read the trust cover to cover, including the amendments, before you sign or move anything. Then call. The notice deadline is the part that does not wait.