Would an Eldercare Attorney or the Trust Department of my bank be better to act as the Executor of my Will? No family.

Look into a Living Trust (talk to a real elder law attorney, not one that puts on quicky seminars) . You can set up a charity (one with an established corporate presence)--or an attorney or a bank, talk to them all and see how good they are at understanding what you want. I wound up dealing with a property in my husband and my family trust at the same time I was representing our church as corporate clerk as sucessor trustee and executor of a family trust in which there were no close surviving family members. The advantage of a trust is that it does not require a probate, and so you can avoid a lot of cost and delay. (They closed one day apart.)

Kevin1931: You should consult an elder law attorney.

I'm assuming lawyers, bankers and friends don't take on the tasks of being executor and/or POA agent for free. How is the compensation typically calculated? And why aren't there individuals or companies offering this as a 3rd party service?

My Mom had a living Trust and my sister and I were co-trustees and then co-executors. We worked with the estate attorney that she had created the trust with. We did 98% of the work and were charged $350 per hour for paralegal stuff which made some huge bills. I’m wondering if we could have administered the Trust without legal help or if we could have used a different estate attorney.

Thank you for all the great answers. I should clarify my situation a little. I don't have any relatives living in the U.S. I have 4 nephews living in Canada, where I grew up. I am a naturalized U.S. citizen and have spent most of my adult life here. It is not practical for any of my nephews to be my Executor. I have an existing Will that provides for my nephews. My Will does need updating, which I will do soon. I also have a Living Will (Health Care Proxy) and a Durable Power of Attorney. I will likely stick with Trustco Bank as my Executor, and the Attorney's practice that prepared my Will and other documents. Thanks again for all your thoughtful advice! Kevin C.

I can sympathize your situation and I hope what I tell you in this post will help.

1. No one you ask to do this maybe 100% trust worthy, no one.

2. I've researched attorneys just to help regarding my Mother, they can be just as much a crook as any that have been placed in prison.

3. IF a person such as a CPA, offers to do this for you and tries to convince you that they also have a legal connection for all of the documents to be prepared....STOP! WARNING LIGHTS SHOULD GO OFF IN YOUR BRAIN!!!

This person KNOWS your asset value. You do not know this "legal" connection he/she is telling you they have.

4. Do YOU understand what the documents you will be signing mean?

The biggest way to lose EVERYTHING you have right now, is someone convincing you that signing this or that isn't "that important and don't worry" about it.

YOU COULD BE SIGNING AWAY YOUR RIGHTS TO ACCESS YOUR BANK ACCOUNTS, DEED TO YOUR HOME AND GIVING PERMISSION FOR THEM TO PLACE YOU IN A FACILITY AT ANY POINT THAT THEY CHOSE.

5. Financial investment companies have an opportunity to rob clients. Even the very well known companies.

6. You say that you don't have any family. Do you not have any extended family i.e. nieces, nephews, cousins?

If so, are you planning to help them financially once you have crossed that last bridge?

7. My opinion....again this is my opinion, have a Will prepared first. You will cover everything that you own right down to your dishes.

You can provide for charities that you would like to help.

Provide or have a scholarship program in your name started at the college you graduated.

Every detail of your wishes will be started exactly the way you want distributed.

Since we live in a Community property State, we both have separate Wills. There are items within our marriage that must be honored by instruction set. Then there are items that must be given to the surviving spouse which then become part of their Will.

Once you have done this, then process with the Trust issue.

Your bank has a Trust dept and attorneys as part of this department. They are also able to help you set up your Will.

#1....MAKE SURE YOU UNDERSTAND EACH AND EVERY DOCUMENT YOU WILL BE SIGNING.

DO NOT TAKE ANYONE'S WORD THAT IT'S NOTHING TO BE CONCERNED.

#2 REMEMBER THAT CELEBRITIES "THINKING" THEY HAVE MADE MILLIONS ACTUALLY ARE PENNILESS. THEIR MONEY MANAGERS, LAWYERS, FAMILY STEAL FROM THEM ALL OF THE TIME.

THINK OF YOURSELF AS A CELEBRITY. YOU WORKED HARD FOR EVERY THING YOU HAVE; DON'T LET ANYONE STEAL IT AWAY FROM YOU.

BEWARE OF PEOPLE WHO START TAKING AN INTEREST, PERSONALLY IN YOUR LIFE.

THINK NICHOLE SMITH AND HER 90+ YEAR OLD HUSBAND. REALKY, WAS THERE REALLY A LOVE CONNECTION THERE?

You already have a relationship with your bank.

I would suggest you start there. Make an appointment with either the department President or the VP.

DO NOT LET THEM MAKE YOU FEEL THAT YOU ARE NOT WORTHY OF THEIR TIME....EVER.

Your money is just as important as that multi-million who banks with them too. NO ONE IS BETTER THAN YOU OR ANYBODY ELSE IN THIS WORLD....NEVER FORGET THAT.

As I stated at the beginning, this is my opinion, BUT I look at your situation through the lens of having been a banker; not on the Trust end, but from the retail end.

I never allowed when I was the Operations Officer in the branch or department, to ever look upon someone based on their appearance nor what they were worth on paper.

EVERYONE deserved the same customer service and direction, just as nobody is above doing a job that needs to be done.

Again, I hope this helps you or anybody else on this post.

Good luck! 🤞👍

How would someone with a stake in a trust, start the procedure of opening a trust at the bank, after the trustee passes and the successor won't do it?? It is real estate and work equipment.

I have a professional fiduciary (PFAC) in California. Don't know how many states have this - but for those of us with no one to administer estates - I have living trust with professional fiduciary (licensed and bonded by state) as successor trustee (wrote trust so if she is not available at time of need - another member of PFAC will be substituted. They are bound by the terms of the trust. Better than distant family members I don't even know and unless you have a few million - banks are not interested.

I worked for estates and trusts attys in Chicago for 20 years. If you plan to donate any assets to charity you can create a charitable trust and continue to live off your assets until you die and then they pass onto your charity. If you have no family, I'm a little confused who you plan to leave your estate to. Trusts are easier for those receiving than probate.

Going the atty route is probably going to be the more feasible route.

The # of banks that have real Trust Departments, with bank officers who know the in & outs of trusts, & act as advisors, etc. are few & far between. Unless you have significant amount under advisement, like M+.

What ever you do, have a back-up executor - the bank my dad picked refused to be executor because due to privacy laws the other banks could tell them how much money he left - so they filled in a paper & sent it to us saying that they declined - we found out they could in the small print on page 2 of his agreement with them - he had moved his money to another bank but forgot to up-date that part

My dad and hubby/me all have trusts. My daughters are responsible for different parts of our trust. I am for my dad.

Had not thought about the bank. My main bank is Bank of America, but my account is actually held in Atlanta whereas I now live in Memphis and do business with the branch here. I just didn't want to change routing and account numbers as I had a lot of automatic payments set up in my Atlanta account and it works just fine even though I don't live there. Watching my two children almost come to blows over care and dispensation of their father's (my ex) house and money, I don't want to choose one over the other and joint isn't going to work. I have a good financial manager whom I trust, but he may not want to live in this town forever.

Whatever you decide, make sure that you won't have to go through Probate in your state (our family had to set up a Trust account to avoid that). A will is not a trust, at least not in our state.
All the best to you!

Thanks very much for your very helpful advice. Kevin C.

Don't tell us here on the forum, but the answer to your question depends on the value of your estate, the type of assets that you own, and whether your Will is going to establish a Testamentary Trust that would continue to hold assets into the future.

If you have a large estate with assets like stock, bonds and securities, a bank trust department would be interested in working with you. The professional fiduciary services offered by a trust department would be needed if you want to gradually distribute assets to people over a period of years following your death. Their fees are based on the value of the estate.

If you have a smaller estate and/or most of your wealth is in the form of your house or other real estate, an individual attorney or law firm could be a good choice. An attorney acting as fiduciary is able to work on the estate at an hourly rate. If the estate assets are to be sold and the proceeds distributed to friends, family or charity, an attorney can handle the arrangements efficiently.

In my state (Massachusetts) the Attorney General's Office provides an extra layer of review if the Will designates any of the estate assets to go to a charity.

Many bank trust departments are reluctant to take on estates and trusts involving real estate, especially small estates that hold residential real estate. The trust department fee schedule doesn't fit well with managing and liquidating real property.

In addition to a Will, consider a Living Trust which would own your assets during your lifetime, and distribute your assets to the people and/or charities you designate upon your death. You are the Trustee during your lifetime, and a Successor Trustee steps up if you become disabled and/or upon your passing.

There is an quite elderly gentleman who is a resident of the SNF where my father is. He really is quite the character, outlived his entire family, but is very well looked after and seems to be happy in his situation. He has a trust in the local small town bank. His POA/guardian is the president of this bank. She is wonderful, visits with him, gets him whatever he needs.

I realize that this is not the service you would hope for but never find!! So I guess my advice would be to start with a local attorney and see if there is a small town bank/trust department that has the ability to act in your best interest.

Do not put this off!!

I have a joint living trust (with my ex, long story) that my bank will handle. They're spendy for their percentage, but I can't recall it. My outdated will has the bank. I get it now about not using family. Since my divorce I have my own living trust that Sister 3--who I trusted completely--was my successor trustee/executor. Guess what? She took a financial document from my package and showed it to Sister 1 who told Sister 2 and all he// broke loose. I sent S3 a SASE and told her to return it all. I never again speak to her again. I'm not yet in a position to go to my bank and update my Will and my personal trust.

For myself, I have my Dual Power of Attorney with two people, and the same two people are Executor, thus if the primary passes on or is unable to do the work, then the secondary takes over.

The secondary is my Elder Law Attorney who had drawn up my Revocable Trust, POA, Medical Directive, etc. I used a large law firm, thus if my Attorney leaves the firm, then someone else in the firm who is an Elder Law Attorney will step in.

Both are reasonable choices. Compare the fees for each one. Typically banks will EXACTLY follow the outlines of the trust/will. Family attorneys will follow the trust/will also, but can sometimes add their judgement based on their personal knowledge of you to decide if a situation meets the requirements you outlined.

Example: Let's say you leave money for nephew to go to a 4-year university, but he wants to study for his first year at a local community college and then transfer to a 4-year university to complete his degree. The bank will probably say no. The family attorney will probably say yes if he/she has reason to believe that the nephew is truly going to complete a 4-year degree.

SpiritDancer... you're waiting until *what* time comes? The OP is asking how to leave his own estate to be handled. Unless you're uniquely prescient I shouldn't take it right to the line if I were you.

Yes if your bank can handle might be better. I would start with them. 

I would seek legal counsel. I am personally waiting until the time comes. If there is anything left or if I’m included in the will I plan on hiring an attorney as I know all the siblings will be fighting down to the last tin of food. My mum’s siblings didn’t speak for 10 years after all the squabbling. Find an attorney you can trust. Good luck.

Good question Kevin. I’m in the same situation. Hope we get some good advice.