Our firm handles estate planning, not financial planning. However, to effectively help our clients, we often need them to create a good personal financial. Sometimes this is for an estate planning client working on a distribution scheme that requires good numbers or who needs a good list of assets to fund a revocable trust. Sometimes it is for an adult child who is trying to get their parent’s finances in order or trying to decide how to pay for long term care. Sometimes clients who are business owners need a financial to give to the bank, perhaps along with supporting documents. This article explains how we recommend our clients go about this, and includes an Excel template that can be useful in doing this.
Understanding Probate Accountings
Our office routinely assists personal representatives in probate matters. We also assist trustees in settling revocable trusts. This post explains the financial reporting involved in those matters, and how we help our clients handle their responsibilities appropriately.
To keep this article simple, we discuss a probate process, in which the decedent leaves an estate, and the administrator is called a personal representative. When the decedent uses a revocable trust as their planning tool, the decedent leaves a trust, and the administrator is called a trustee, but the same reporting rules apply.
Trust Accountings for Ongoing Trusts
Our office routinely assists trustees in preparing accountings for ongoing trusts. This post explains what those accountings are and why they are important. It also gives some advice for trustees on making financial reporting as easy as possible.
Trust Accounting Basics
An ongoing trust is an arrangement under which one person is managing money for another according to a governing document. The person managing the trust is the trustee, and the person they are managing for is the beneficiary. The governing document explains how the funds are to be used.