Anyone a Trustee on a Living Trust

1973911s · 02-13-2005, 06:12 PM

I am a trustee on the by-pass trust for a living trust.

I was wondering what type of accounting software you are using?

There is going to be so little activity, that I have set up an excel file to track it.

Do you also take an annual fee for your services?

Michael

einreb · 02-13-2005, 06:55 PM

nothing wrong with using an excel file to track it.

As for the fee... thre should be some verbage in the trust that allows you to take some sort of 'reasonable' $ for your services. You could either do it hourly (i.e. $70 an hour) or as a percentage of the trust.

Hugh R · 02-14-2005, 09:40 AM

I'm trustee of a living trust for my nephew. Everything is in life insurance and a money market account. I haven't charged a dime in 18 years. I hire someone else to do the taxes and pay for that service out of the money market account.

Bill Douglas · 02-14-2005, 10:50 AM

I'm a trustee of a trust belonging to our family. I do A LOT of work for the trust such as plumbing, painting, fencing, electrical, sewage (eek, on a beach house), new tenants, arguing with the accountant, and don't charge anything to the trust as it's family. I don't mind doing it though as I spend the rest of my time doing the same with my own properties.

You can bill the trust and get paid, but it seems to be a bit too much of a money go-round with tax being paid too many times on the same money.

juanbenae · juanbenae's Garage

talk to tabs, he can tell you on how to live on a trust. one word- buffet

esther · 02-14-2005, 01:50 PM

This is what I do for a "living" I administer trusts and prepare tax returns for these trusts. Without getting too technical, yes, you can use an excel spreadsheet to keep track of trust assets. I have also used the FATE accounting system and Quicken to keep track of basis and asset information for more "complicated" trusts.

As for trustee fees, some trustees take a % of the value of the trust - others take a flat fee for the year and there are those that do not charge a fee.

Attorney fees and accountant fees on the other hand ...

CRH911S · 02-14-2005, 02:11 PM

Maintenance and accounting fees should be discussed in the trust document itself, and it sounds like they are. If this isn't something you do professionally it might be better to keep the two separate. If you need the name of a good trust attorney let me know.