Search Results
180 results for "Kathryn A. Murphy"
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How to Create a Payment Schedule for a Trust
As a trustee, you should establish a payment schedule for the trust to ensure that the trust has enough money when you make distributions to beneficiaries and when you pay taxes and service fees. To create [more…]
Found in: Trusts -
When to File a Last Will with a Probate Court
As an estate administrator, you assume responsibility for the decedent’s will. You also decide whether probate court administration of the decedent’s assets is necessary. [more…]
Found in: Probate -
Does the Estate Need a Special Administrator?
A special administrator is a temporary fiduciary appointed by the probate court in many states to marshal and preserve the assets when a delay is foreseen in appointing a permanent fiduciary. This may [more…]
Found in: Understanding Estate Planning -
How to Diversify Stocks for a Trust
Investing in the stock market is a popular way to produce income from trust principal for the trust’s income beneficiaries. Stocks, sometimes referred to as equities, are ownership interests in corporations [more…]
Found in: Understanding Estate Planning -
Estate Settlement with or without a Will
Estates that have a valid will are classified and treated differently than estates without a valid will. If an estate has a will, you must file a petition with the probate court to have the will admitted [more…]
Found in: Understanding Estate Planning -
Does an Estate Need a Guardian?
In some cases the probate court appoints a guardian for an estate’s heir to take care of the heir’s affairs and manage his or her assets. A common case is one where the decedent has died and the heir is [more…]
Found in: Understanding Estate Planning -
How to Pay a Trust's Expenses
In addition to making payments to the beneficiaries, as trustee, you’re also responsible for paying the expenses you incur in administering the trust. The primary expenses include trustee’s fees, investment [more…]
Found in: Understanding Estate Planning -
What Are a Trust's Principal and Income?
A trust has two components, the principal and the income. The principal is all the property that’s available to produce ordinary income like dividends, interest, or rents. As you make payments, some may [more…]
Found in: Understanding Estate Planning -
How to Locate a Decedent's Hidden Assets
Going through a decedent’s personal papers and hiding places may seem invasive, but it is necessary for an estate’s executor to conduct a search for all of the decedent’s assets, including hidden assets [more…]
Found in: Understanding Estate Planning -
What Powers Are Granted to a Trustee?
The powers the grantor gives you, the trustee, in a trust instrument include the buying and selling of assets, determining distributions to the beneficiaries, and even the hiring and firing of advisors [more…]
Found in: Trusts -
What's a Probate Estate All About?
A probate estate is all the assets a person owns at his or her death that are subject to probate administration. Probate administration is the process of proving to a probate court that the will is genuine [more…]
Found in: Understanding Estate Planning -
The Essentials of Holding and Diversifying Trust Assets
As trustee, you’re responsible for investing the trust property, giving the principal a chance to grow. To carry out your role, you need to know the different types of assets that you may be responsible [more…]
Found in: Understanding Estate Planning -
How to List a Decedent's Household Property
The executor of an estate is responsible for the decedent’s household items and personal property. Prepare a detailed inventory of all the personal and household items [more…]
Found in: Understanding Estate Planning -
How to Collect a Decedent's Employee Benefits
The estate’s executor is responsible for collecting any employee benefits, or death benefits for which the decedent may be eligible. These may include retirement accounts, continued COBRA health benefits [more…]
Found in: Understanding Estate Planning -
How to Determine a Decedent's Domicile
Much of estate administration rests on the location of the decedent’s domicile. You must know this location in order to figure out where you must probate the assets and to what state you must pay taxes [more…]
Found in: Understanding Estate Planning -
How to List a Decedent's Large Assets
When marshalling — locating and listing — a decedent’s assets, an estate administrator might begin with the largest assets: real estate and vehicles. Large assets will often be easy to find, but it is [more…]
Found in: Understanding Estate Planning -
Does the Estate Need a Temporary Executor?
You may need to apply for temporary executorshipif the estate plan documents show that the decedent’s estate has assets subject to probate that need immediate action. Temporary executorship can be achieved [more…]
Found in: Understanding Estate Planning -
How to Read a Trust Instrument and Create a Trust Plan
After you’ve been named as trustee of a trust, you will need to understand the trustee’s duties and powers as soon as possible in order to create a plan for administering the trust. The conditions of the [more…]
Found in: Trusts -
How to Fund a Trust after a Grantor’s Death
Often, trusts are created during the grantor’s lifetime, but they aren’t funded until after the grantor dies. If you’re a trustee of such a trust, there are certain steps to take to transfer assets into [more…]
Found in: Trusts -
How to Determine a Trust's Schedule of Distributions
As trustee of an estate, you must determine the schedule of beneficiary distributions and be sure that distribution dates are calendared somewhere. The trust instrument may call [more…]
Found in: Trusts -
What Are a Trustee’s Fiduciary Duties?
As a trustee, you have a fiduciary duty to the trust. You must always act in accordance with the terms of the trust instrument. Your attorney can advise you as to the law regarding your duties and limitations [more…]
Found in: Trusts -
How to Complete Schedule A for Estate Form 706
An estate’s administrator must complete Schedule A: Real Estate when filing Form 706, United States Estate (and Generation-Skipping Transfer) Tax Return [more…]
Found in: Estate Planning - Taxes -
How to Diversify Mutual Funds for a Trust
In a mutual fund, a group of like-minded investors pool their money, hire an advisor, and allow the advisor to invest the pooled cash in a way that’s been determined by the investors. In exchange for the [more…]
Found in: Understanding Estate Planning -
How to Fund a Trust with Life Insurance
Life insurance policies come in many flavors, and they guarantee a reasonably large cash payout down the road for a relatively small investment now. A life insurance policy can fund a trust that eventually [more…]
Found in: Trusts -
How to Identify the People Associated with a Trust
As a trustee, identifying the people associated with the trust you are administering is one of your important first steps. You need to know who the beneficiaries and remaindermen are. You will also want [more…]
Found in: Trusts
