Schmidt Basch, LLC, your St Louis Probate Lawyers, provides clients with effective representation for trust, probate, & fiduciary litigation.
What does a Trustee do?The overarching duty of a Trustee, or the person(s) legally responsible for administration of a Trust and its assets, is to protect the needs of the Trust’s beneficiary or beneficiaries. With this in mind, a Trustee should inform beneficiaries about the state and management of the Trust’s assets and investments. The Trustee should also ensure that all tax obligations are met and income tax returns are filed. In addition, the Trustee is responsible for paying any tax preparation or legal fees incurred by the Trust, managing all accounts, and overseeing any investments and distributions made to beneficiaries. The actions of the Trustee must comply explicitly with the Trust's provisions.What is a breach of fiduciary duty?A fiduciary, such as a Trustee of a Trust or the Personal Representative (sometimes called the Executor) of a Probate Estate, owes certain duties to the beneficiaries of the Trust or the Probate Estate, as the case may be. Generally speaking, a breach of fiduciary duty occurs when a fiduciary fails – intentionally or otherwise – to act in the beneficiary's best interest, such as in direct opposition to the express terms of a Trust instrument. One example of a breach of fiduciary duty is when a fiduciary acts in his/her own personal interest rather than that of the beneficiary or beneficiaries whose Trust interests the fiduciary is obligated to legally protect.What is probate?Probate is the legal transfer of a deceased person’s assets to any party or entity designated to receive the deceased person's assets. Probate assets are titled in a person’s sole name upon death, outside of a Trust instrument and without any successorship rights expressly designated to other person(s). Claims by creditors or parties against the deceased individual are often settled from the proceeds of the probate estate. If a person dies with a Last Will, his/her assets are transferred pursuant to the Last Will’s provisions. If a person dies without a Last Will (known as “intestate”), the state’s probate laws covering intestate estates will determine who receives the deceased's assets.
Our firm has deep experience in all phases of commercial real estate transactions, from providing clients with exceptional counsel during the dealmaking process to structuring agreements in a manner that eliminates or significantly reduces…
Brand Leader, Top Producer and The Scoop · Communications and marketing professional focusing in the agricultural industry. · Pracovní zkušenosti: Farm Journal · Vzdělání: University of Missouri-Columbia · Lokalita: Washington · Přes 500…