Choosing a Trustee -- A Key Decision For Your Family

The script is not the play. The play is actors giving life to the script. The printed notes are not the music. Music is musicians making the sound from the notes. With personal financial arrangements, the trust is not the protection for your family. The protection is the trustee acting skillfully to fulfill the trust's provisions.

A trust can be the means to protect your family against the unexpected. At any time, you could become disabled or otherwise unable to manage your assets. Unless you have someone very competent to step in for you -- perhaps for a prolonged period -- your family's financial affairs could suffer.

Good planning can't assume that your family would get through with the aid of relatives and friends. However well-intentioned, they certainly have other cares and responsibilities that could conflict with your family's needs. Informal arrangements cannot substitute for a definite legal plan to provide proven investment skills and experience in caring for substantial assets.

That is the reason for setting up a trust. It can serve as the framework to protect your family. You decide what assets to include in the trust. You decide whom the trust will benefit, and what the benefit will be. But a trust is itself only a legal agreement you make to transfer property to a trustee. The person or institution who is the trustee has the responsibility for overseeing the property as you define in the trust agreement. So, the skills and competence of your trustee are what determine how well your trust will protect your family. And the choice of trustee is critical when you set up your trust.

A Trustee's Duties

As a fiduciary, your trustee is obligated by law to follow a strict standard of care for your trust. Yet almost any adult can be a trustee. The law does not require any skills. Making sure your trustee can do the job that's needed is up to you when you name your trustee. Your trust agreement will define your trustee's specific duties. These will generally require investment expertise, tax experience, business knowledge, plus administrative and reporting capabilities. No one calls a plumber to fix a television. Plainly, you will do better to choose an experienced trustee, who knows how to effectively do the things that you require. Usually, that means your trustee will:

• Invest the trust assets
• Distribute income and/or principal to your beneficiaries
• Make trust tax decisions
• Maintain transaction records
• Prepare account statements and tax reports for your beneficiaries
• File the trust's income-tax returns

We are experienced, professional trustees and investment managers. In contrast to an individual trustee, we give priority to our trust responsibilities. Personal or professional problems do not affect our service. We don't get sick, die, or move away. We are here full time, ready to assist you and your beneficiaries.

If you want to know more about First Market Bank's Trust Department or trusts in general please call us at 804-327-5749.