WorkflowTrusts, Estates & Probate

Trust Administration

Trust administration software built on the instrument itself: each duty for the trustee, the family, the accountant, the appraisers and the attorney, with every date moved when the notice is served.

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Open the swimlane, the clock and the split ↓

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The problem

Each trust’s plan is pieced together anew, its clauses looked up again

A grantor dies and the trust becomes irrevocable. The paralegal copies a checklist from the last matter, types the deadlines into a calendar and starts a spreadsheet for the split. The accountant, the appraisers and the trustee each keep their own piece, and nobody holds the whole plan.

Then the questions start. Why does the trustee have to do this, when can the family be paid, does the daughter’s request for a copy change anything? Each answer means opening the trust again. A notice mailed late pushes back every date after it, and a distribution made inside the contest window can go to the wrong people.

Built forTrust attorneysTrust paralegalsSuccessor trusteesFiduciary accountants

The Problem Today

When a living trust becomes irrevocable, five parties share dozens of duties, and some run on statutory clocks.

60 days: to serve the trustee’s notice after the grantor’s death published
120 days: in which a beneficiary may contest once the notice is served published

Tracked by hand today

Checklists
Deadlines
Clauses
Allocations

The clause looked up againEach question sends someone back to the trust
Days to build each planParalegal days per trust, on a flat or capped fee

The Solution

The trust read and citedTrustees, shares, sub-trusts and powers, each tied to its article
One plan, five partiesEach duty placed in the lane of the party who owns it, with handoffs
Notice served, lanes moveMailing the notice starts the contest window and resets each later date
Allocation, then approvalShares and sub-trusts proposed with their clauses; the trustee decides

Built-in controls

No distribution before the contest window closes
Attorney approves and trustee signs each notice
Each letter to a family approved by a person

What You Get

Trustees, beneficiaries and counsel know the distribution date the day the notice goes out.

3 hours: of paralegal time to build the plan, down from 2–3 days our estimate

Dates that move togetherA served notice resets each lane at once
Plain letters to familiesWhat happens next and why, and no legal advice
Sub-trusts funded rightEducation and needs-based shares held as the trust says

One trust, nine screens

Trust administration software, one feature to each screen of one trust

From the death to the final account, each feature below takes one role’s problem off the desk, in the order an administration runs.

01The plan, by party
One swimlane plan with a lane for each of the five parties
How it works
- Trustee, attorney, beneficiaries, accountant and appraisers each get a lane of dated tasks
- 61 tasks on one time axis, with handoff arrows between the lanes
- The dates the law sets drawn as rules across every lane
- One next step at the top: mail the trustee’s notice, due in 8 days
Trust paralegalAnswers the family’s first question, when do we get paid, without copying a checklist from the last matter.
02A duty and its source
Each task opens on the clause or statute that makes it a duty
How it works
- Click any bar for its party, its dates and its status
- The passage behind the duty, quoted from the trust or summarized from the statute
- Handoffs in and out, so a waiting task names who it waits on
- Approving distributions carries the contest-window passage and moves with the notice
Trust administration attorneyNo more opening the instrument again each time the trustee or a beneficiary asks why a task is on the list at all.
03Notices and their clocks
Every required notice on its clock, the trustee’s notice drafted first
How it works
- All eight notices the trust and the law require, each with its clock and recipients
- The trustee’s notice drafted with the contest warning in bold capitals
- Notices ruled out stay on the list, marked not used or not required
- Sign-off runs drafted, approved, signed, then mailed by the paralegal
Trust administration attorneySees which notices are due, filed or ruled out, and why, before approving the one that starts the clock.
04The contest clock
A contest-clock ruler that tests a copy request against the window
How it works
- Service starts the clock at day 0 and the window ends at day 120
- A beneficiary’s request for a copy of the trust is plotted on the ruler
- The copy cutoff sits at day 60; the later date wins
- The note says in words whether the request moves the closing date
Trust paralegalKnows whether a beneficiary’s copy request pushes back the distribution. No more counting days against the statute on a desk calendar.
05The plan after service
Marking the notice mailed opens the window and moves every later date
How it works
- The paralegal records service on six recipients and signs the proof of service
- The 120-day contest window opens in the beneficiaries’ lane
- The distribution date stops being provisional and lands 8 days earlier
- All 16 later tasks that wait on the window shift with it, in each lane
Trust paralegalMailing early pays off at once: the trustee, the family and the accountant see the new distribution date as soon as service is recorded.
06Assets at date of death
Date-of-death values from appraisals and statements, each on its page
How it works
- Eight assets totaling $7,400,000, each with its appraisal or statement
- Each value is also the stepped-up basis the accountant needs
- The art collection shows a draft value until the final report arrives
- A $42,000 certificate of deposit outside the trust is flagged
Fiduciary accountantBuilds the basis schedule from cited values, and can see the one value still waiting on an appraiser before signing off.
07Allocation to sub-trusts
An allocation matrix that balances every share to the dollar
How it works
- Assets worth $7,400,000 down the side, shares and sub-trusts across, the clause on each
- Three family shares of $2,378,000, the late son’s split between his two children
- The daughter’s $175,000 loan charged against her share and canceled
- Each share checked equal to its target before legal review
Successor trusteeGets a proposed split he can approve, with the clause behind each line, instead of a spreadsheet he has to take on trust.
08Letter to a beneficiary
A plain letter to each beneficiary, citing the trust, one page long
How it works
- Drafted for one beneficiary at a time, at a reading age of 12
- Answers what they asked, with their share and how it is held
- Says it gives information, not legal advice
- Held for the paralegal’s approval before it is sent
Trust paralegalAnswers a beneficiary in one letter she can approve, in place of another phone call that ends with a promise to check the trust.
09Distribution plan
Distributions locked until the contest window has closed
How it works
- Each share’s transfer set out: deed, bill of sale, account transfer or check
- Approval opens only after the window closes, one line at a time
- A receipt and release tracked beside each transfer
- The $216,000 reserve held until the final account
Successor trusteeCannot pay a beneficiary inside the contest window by mistake, and approves each transfer with its receipt already drafted.

Three family shares of $2,378,000, one of them split between two grandchildren

The allocation the trustee approves, from a trust of $7,400,000.

Share	Held as	Assets	Value
Son, also the trustee	Outright	Duplex, art collection, brokerage	$2,378,000
Daughter	Lifetime trust	Residence, household goods, her loan charged	$2,378,000
Grandson, 16	Education trust to age 25	Half the fourplex, brokerage	$1,189,000
Granddaughter, 24	Supplemental needs trust	Half the fourplex, brokerage	$1,189,000
Music school	Gift	Brokerage	$50,000
Reserve	Held to the final account	Cash, brokerage	$216,000
Total	Eight assets	All of the trust estate	$7,400,000

Around the plan

Trust administration software around the plan, from caseload to record

Six more views the firm and the trustee open beside the swimlane.

List of eleven open trust administrations with matter numbers, days since the death and each one’s next statutory date or step — **Eleven trusts at once**The paralegal’s open administrations, each with its day count since the death and the next date it owes.

Record of service for the trustee’s notice: six recipients by first-class mail, and the mailed date, day 120 and earliest distribution in a row — **Service, before the clock starts**Six recipients by first-class mail, the minor’s parent among them, and the dates the mailing sets, shown before the paralegal confirms.

Duty checklist filtered to the trustee’s 19 tasks, each row with its dates, status and the clause or statute that makes it a duty — **The trustee’s 19 tasks as a list**The same plan as a table, filtered to one party: dates, status and the clause or statute behind each task.

Clause on expenses, debts and taxes opened over the allocation matrix, with its passage and the four tasks it creates for the trustee and accountant — **One clause, four duties**The clause on expenses, debts and taxes opens on its passage and the four tasks it puts in the trustee’s and the accountant’s lanes.

Allocation agent run in five steps above the sub-trust cards, ending in a flag that the interested trustee’s in-kind share needs written consents — **The allocation, re-run**Gift and reserve set aside, the loan charged, assets placed, shares balanced, and a flag that the trustee’s own split needs consent.

Audit trail from the trusteeship accepted to the notice signed, each line an agent or a person, beside the separation of duties for notices and letters — **Who drafted, approved and signed**People and agents on one record, from the accepted trusteeship to the signed notice, with the separation of duties held beside it.

The paralegal records service, and only the trustee approves a distribution

Agents read, plan and draft. People approve, sign, mail and decide.

Trust paralegal

Sees: The swimlane, each drafted letter and the proof of service
Signs: Approves each letter to a family and records service of each notice

Trust administration attorney

Sees: Each notice draft, and the allocation with its clauses
Signs: Approves the notices and the legal review of the allocation

Successor trustee

Sees: What is due this week, and the clause behind it
Signs: Signs the notices, approves the allocation and each distribution

Fiduciary accountant

Sees: Date-of-death values, the ledger and the reserve
Signs: The returns and the basis schedule, with no access to family letters

Beneficiaries

Sees: A plain letter on their share and when it can be paid
Signs: Written consent to an in-kind split, and a receipt and release

Practice administrator

Sees: State rules and clocks, roles, approvals and retention
Signs: Changes the settings, and decides nothing on any trust

A loan, a benefits share and the trustee’s own split, raised from the trust

Four points in one administration that a copied checklist would not have carried.

A loan charged against a share

The daughter still owed $175,000 on a loan from her mother. The trust charges it against her share without interest, so her trust takes the residence and household goods plus the canceled note.

A grandchild on means-tested benefits

The granddaughter receives benefits an outright gift would put at risk. Her $1,189,000 goes to a supplemental needs trust, as the first amendment directs.

A trustee taking art in kind

The son is trustee and takes the art collection and the duplex in kind. The trust allows a non-pro-rata split, but the other beneficiaries give written consent before he approves it.

A copy request that leaves the date alone

The daughter asked for a copy of the trust the day before mailing. Delivered within the week, it ends well inside the 120 days, so the closing date holds.

Questions from successor trustees and their counsel

What is trust administration software?

Trust administration software plans and tracks what a successor trustee owes from the grantor’s death to final distribution. This one reads the trust and its amendments, sets out each duty with its clause or statute, drafts the notices on their clocks, gathers date-of-death values and proposes the allocation for the trustee to decide.

What does a successor trustee have to do after a death?

Secure the assets, serve the trustee’s notice on beneficiaries and heirs, value everything at the date of death, pay the bills and taxes, divide the trust as it directs, fund any sub-trusts, distribute and account. The plan sets those out by party, each with its passage a click away.

How long does trust administration take?

A typical administration runs six to twelve months, longer with real property or tax questions. The earliest distribution date follows the contest window, and the plan moves it the day the paralegal records service of the notice.

What stops a distribution inside the contest window?

Each distribution stays locked until the window has closed. The trustee then approves each transfer one line at a time, with its receipt already drafted.

Can a trustee who is also a beneficiary take assets in kind?

Where the trust allows a non-pro-rata split, yes, but a trustee dealing with trust property for his own share should have the other beneficiaries’ informed written consent. The allocation agent flags it, and consent letters follow the trustee’s approval.

Does it give beneficiaries legal advice?

No. Letters explain what happens next and cite the trust, and each one says it gives information, not legal advice. The paralegal approves every letter before it is sent.

How is the family’s information kept private?

Tax and account numbers are hidden on screen and in each draft. Client files are not used to train models, and each file is kept for a fixed period after the final account, then deleted on the record.

Trusts, Estates & Probate