Page 12 - Successor Trustee Handbook
P. 12

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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