Trust Administration

Attorneys and CPAs Guiding Trustees and Families Through Nevada Trust Administration

Upon the death of a grantor or creator of a revocable living trust or any other type of trust, the successor trustee has a fiduciary duty to help gather, manage, and then distribute assets according to the terms of the trust and consistent with state and federal law.  This process is called trust administration.

While trust administration avoids probate, it still involves important tax, legal, and financial responsibilities.  Even upon the death of the first spouse, it is important to seek the legal and tax counsel of a Las Vegas trust administration attorney to save the surviving spouse federal income taxes, reduce or eliminate debts occurred by the first spouse to pass, and to properly handle federal income and estate tax planning techniques that are only available upon the death of the first spouse.  

The purpose of trust administration is to simply administer the assets outside the court, thus saving time and money for the beneficiaries.  Our experienced Las Vegas trust administration attorneys provide guidance to trustees and beneficiaries to ensure the trust is carried out properly and fairly.  In addition, our experienced Las Vegas trust administration attorneys are also Certified Public Accountant licensed in Nevada and California, former Ernst & Young CPA, and has his LL.M. Master of Law in tax.

What Is Trust Administration in Nevada?

Trust administration is the process of:

  • Gathering and valuing trust assets.
  • Notifying heirs and beneficiaries.
  • Lodging the Will with the court.
  • Publishing a notice to creditors and sending known creditor letters to reduce and/or eliminate creditor bills and expenses.
  • Proper trust administration reduces and/or eliminates paying debts and creditors thus reducing expenses.  
  • Verify the state and federal income taxes are paid. 
  • Prepare trust accounting, beneficiary receipts, and releases to protect the successor trustee from litigation while protecting the beneficiaries from unethical successor trustees.  

 

Nevada and federal law demand that proper trust administration is followed or the successor trustee can be held criminally and civilly liable.  However, unlike probate, trust administration is outside court (i.e. private), faster, and less expensive than probate fees and costs.

Trustee Duties Under Nevada Law

The moment someone agrees to serve as a trustee they immediately become a fiduciary and have duties of trust and responsibility.  These duties include: 

  • Trustees have a duty to act in the best interest of all the beneficiaries.  
  • Trustees have a duty to gather and manage the assets as a fiduciary. 
  • Trustees have a duty to, within a reasonable period of time, provide an accounting to the beneficiaries. 
  • Trustees have a duty to secure, safeguard, and protect the assets of the trust. 
  • Trustees hire experienced Las Vegas trust administration attorneys who understand the laws, taxes, and regulations to help them not violate or breach these important fiduciary duties.  

 

Unfortunately, when trustees fail to follow the rules and duties they can be held criminally and civilly liable, which is why successor trustees should hire an experience trust administration attorney in Las Vegas to avoid costly mistakes that can jeopardize their own personal assets and freedom.  Failing to meet these obligations may expose a trustee to personal liability.

Why Work with a Trust Administration Attorney?

Trust administration is complicated, even though probate was avoided and never occurred.  Our Nevada trust administration attorneys can help trustees with all the legal work so the trustee can focus on the non-legal work, which includes:  

  • Understanding their legal and tax duties
  • Filing required federal tax forms, state tax forms, and state documents. 
  • Reducing or eliminating creditor claims.  When trusts do not legally have to pay creditor claims that are handled correctly, there are more assets for the beneficiaries.  
  • Preventing and/or resolving disputes among beneficiaries.
  • Helping coordinate timely partial distributions and then final distributions after verifying federal and state laws were satisfied. 

 

Working with our experienced Nevada trust administration attorneys, we ensure that the beneficiaries’ rights are protected and that the trustee is following Nevada and federal law, or we will simply fire the trustee as a client.  When we represent the trustee, we represent them in their capacity as trustee – not as a beneficiary-  so our representation does not conflict with their duties to equally and fairly represent all the beneficiaries.

Common Trust Administration Challenges Avoided by Hiring Us

Frequently, well-written trusts can run into issues, including:

  • Unclearly written or described trust language.
  • Disputes arise even before trust administration between siblings or heirs and now only one of them is in charge to manage the trust.  
  • Tax complications and tax strategies. 
  • Disputes because the assets are unique like business and real estate interests along with personal property.  
  • Out-of-state property or beneficiaries living overseas or are not United States citizens. 

 

As Nevada trust administration attorneys with also degrees and experience as Certified Public Accountants with LLM Master of Law in Tax we simply are the surgeons of trust administration.  I’m sorry, but a basic attorney does not have our skillset, knowledge, and degrees to handle small and large estates and trusts because everything we do involves taxation.  That’s why you should interview many Nevada trust administration attorneys, but our attorneys are the ones you will hire.  In fact, several Nevada law firms hire and refer us to administer their clients’ trusts because of the complexity involving trusts or taxation.  

In other words, our attorneys help prevent these trust administration issues from escalating into litigation – so more assets go to the beneficiaries not the attorneys!

Why Choose Our Las Vegas Trust Administration Attorneys?

  • Taxation – as Certified Public Accountants CPAs in Nevada and California and Master of Law in Taxation we are simply more knowledgeable than any other law firm in Nevada.  
  • Experience – we have administered thousands of trusts, so we know how to help with the most complex cases to the simplest cases, but taxation and personalities are never simple, so experience plays a big role in why clients retain our services.  
  • Malpractice Insurance – due to the platforms with the largest financial firms in the world and major law firms who refer to our small boutique Nevada law firm for complex tax and Nevada specific issues, we have millions of dollars of malpractice insurance providing beneficiaries and families security knowing they will always be taken care of if they are represented by our law firm. 
  • Prevent Litigation – families have just lost a loved one, so our focus is on them and making sure we reduce or eliminate family conflict and ensure a smooth administration so communication with all beneficiaries is key to our work with the trustee and permission to update and keep the beneficiaries informed of their progress prevents family contention and problems. 
  • Increase Inheritance to Beneficiaries – As a CPA, Master of Law in Tax, and law degrees – we help administer Trusts and Estates, so more assets go to beneficiaries and not the government. 

Locations

Henderson Office

10424 S. Eastern Ave., Ste. 101
Henderson, NV 89052

Las Vegas Office

9030 W. Cheyenne Ave., Ste. 210
Las Vegas, NV 89129

Pahrump Office

1321 S. Hwy 160, Ste. 8A
Pahrump, NV 89048

Phone

702.465.0888

Contact Us