Page 12 - Successor Trustee Handbook

Locate the Trustor’s important papers, including the Living Trust and other estate
planning documents (copies of which should be found in his or her Family First
Firm “Estate Planning Portfolio” folder). See the Chapter, “Reviewing the Trust
(and Other Estate Plan Documents”). Also, inventory the safe deposit box, if
any. Gather as many of the Trustor’s papers as possible, which could include
statements of various accounts and assets, tax returns, deeds, insurance and
annuity policies, etc. Realize that this information gathering process may not be
completed all at once and may take several weeks.

If you have good reason to believe the Trustor is subject to Elder Abuse - - either
financial, physical or emotional - - you should immediately check the phone
book yellow pages and contact the appropriate government agency or contact
an “Elder Law” Attorney.

Make healthcare and treatment decisions on behalf of the Trustor, as
appropriate and necessary. The Trustor should have a separate document
known as an “Advance Healthcare Directive” (or two documents called a
“Designation of Healthcare Surrogate” and “Living Will”). The Trustor may have
also executed a “HIPAA Disclosure”. You will need to check these documents to
be sure you are the person appointed to make these healthcare and treatment
decisions; someone else, other than you as Trustee of the Living Trust, may be
named instead, in which case you should contact that person immediately.
Assuming you are the first “agent” named to make medical decisions for the
Trustor, you will utilize the pertinent document to do so. Depending on the
document, you may make decisions immediately or be required to get two
doctor letters (as discussed below) before acting. A copy of these healthcare
documents should be delivered to the Trustor’s physicians as soon as possible.
The scope of decisions that you can make will vary according to the terms of the
Trustor’s documents, but will generally include everything from operations,
transfusions, various medical care and treatments, nursing care, and artificial
life support. (Note: Termination of artificial life support can also generally be
made under an Advance Healthcare Directive, but if the Trustor instead has a
Durable Power of Attorney for Healthcare, the separate document known as a
“Living Will” will probably be necessary to make this decision). You may need to
use the “HIPAA Authorization” in order to obtain the Trustor’s medical
information, get any doctor letters, and make medical-related decisions; if the
Trustor did not sign such a document, you may be empowered to do so on his or
her behalf either under the Healthcare Document or a separate document
executed by the Trustor known as a “Durable Power of Attorney for Property”
(also known as a “Durable Power of Attorney for Estate and Personal Planning
Uses”).

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