Trustee Services

When you set up trusts as part of your estate plan, you articulate your wishes for how your beneficiaries will receive trust assets in the event of your death or incapacitation.

But your beneficiaries don’t automatically receive the assets. A trustee is responsible for managing a trust and ensuring that it serves the best interests of its beneficiaries (those who receive or benefit from the assets in the trust) per the wishes of the trust’s creator, also known as the grantor.

Although this may seem like a simple goal, serving as a trustee involves careful financial planning, distribution of assets, filing taxes, recordkeeping, coordination with beneficiaries and care providers, and more.

At NJELC, we have the legal knowledge, experience, and resources to manage your trust and help you ensure it serves the needs of your beneficiaries. When serving as trustee, our attorneys and staff provide all of the following services:

• Payment of bills and other distributions
• Liaison with accountants, financial planners, and healthcare professionals
• Collaboration with clients and beneficiaries on spending plans that balance payment for current needs and preservation of assets for
  anticipated future needs

• Investment supervision
• Supervision of tax return preparation
• Annual meetings
• Provision of annual accountings to the court

At New Jersey Elder Law Center, respect and empathy are central to everything we do. We will collaborate with you on creating a trust that serves your needs and the needs of those you love—and as trustees, we work diligently to ensure that your trust continues to serve the best interests of your beneficiaries.

Trusts are flexible estate planning tools that can help you preserve your assets and provide for your loved ones in various ways. The team at NJELC provides trustee services for each of the following trusts.

A popular estate planning strategy, revocable living trusts are most commonly used to avoid probate. Probate is a time-consuming, costly, and public process. Assets placed in a revocable living trust can be passed on to beneficiaries without going through probate first.

A revocable living trust can also allow you to make provisions for how your assets should be managed if you become incapacitated. Unlike an irrevocable trust, a revocable living trust can be changed at any time if you decide you want to alter your estate plan.

An irrevocable trust is less flexible than a living trust. As soon as your assets are placed in one of these trusts, your ownership of the assets passes to the trust. Under certain circumstances, you may still have access to trust assets through your trustees and lifetime beneficiaries. Depending on your needs, an irrevocable trust can provide a number of estate planning benefits.

As a trustee, New Jersey Elder Law Center can manage your irrevocable trust to help ensure that it serves the best interests of your beneficiaries.

If you have a loved one with special needs, a special needs trust can allow you to provide ongoing care and financial security while also protecting eligibility for benefits such as Medicaid and Supplemental Security Income.

We’re proud to work closely with families and caregivers to manage Special Needs Trusts. Our goal is to prioritize the needs of your loved one and ensure that your trust can continue to provide for them in years to come.