Estate & Trust Administration

Estate Administration
Estate administration refers to the point in time after a loved one’s passing when their wishes are carried out. Those wishes can be outlined in a Last Will and Testament, trust or other document (if they were fortunate enough to plan their estate in advance) or in accordance with the laws of intestacy, if they were not fortunate to reduce their wishes to legally acceptable formats.

No doubt, the duties imposed on the person in charge of estate administration are broad and complex, and the process is often costly, time-consuming and labor intensive. The estate administration process can include gathering (marshalling) assets, valuing assets, settling debts and litigation, and managing distributions, as well as coming to a resolution of new or long-standing family disputes.

With our experience, we can quickly and efficiently guide you through the process. We are pleased to guide you as Personal Representatives (or PR, the new term for executor and administrator), trustee, or beneficiary in the estate administration process. Please feel free to contact us today.

Trust Administration
Trust administration refers to carrying out the terms of the trust but a trustee’s duty to carry out those terms can be simple or incredibly complex. Additionally, the trustee is also under the obligation to adhere to the Duty of Care and the Duty of Loyalty.

We are pleased to assist you as trustee in fulfilling those duties, and we are pleased to assist you as beneficiary in ensuring that the trustee adheres to the terms of the trust as well as the Duties of Care and Loyalty.

Resolving Disputes
We have experience in representing fiduciaries and beneficiaries in resolving disputes of many kinds. Often family members do not agree with the estate plan left by their loved ones. Sometimes that disagreement is reasonable and based in undue influence, improper execution, fraud, mistake, or lack of testamentary capacity.

Whether you are a fiduciary (executor, personal representative, trustee), or beneficiary, we can assist you in understanding the issues and helping you make the right decisions. Frequent claims made include breach of fiduciary duty, modification of bond, will contests and compromises, removal actions, and compelled or contested inventories and accounts.

Please contact us today to talk to us about your case.

Fiduciary Services
We are pleased to offer our services as fiduciary in your matter. Joblin has sophisticated experience in estate and trust administration and the tax aspects which arise in those contexts. Additionally, Joblin serves as Public Administrator of Suffolk County. He was appointed by Governor Patrick and confirmed by the Governor’s Council. The role of Public Administrator is essentially that of a default Personal Representative for persons who pass away without a will and without family within the Commonwealth.

Joblin also offers his services to serve as the Trustee and Personal Representative. Please contact him about your case today.