Page 13 - Successor Trustee Handbook

If you do not reside with the Trustor, change the Trustor’s mailing address so that
you can receive his or her mail. You will need to complete a Change of Address
Form and submit it to the U.S. Postal Service. It may be done online through
www.usps.com. Proof of your authority to change the mailing address is
typically not required. This address change will be valid for only a limited
number of months, so as mail comes in, you should notify any senders that future
correspondence should be mailed directly to your address.

As soon as you begin to locate the Trustor’s important papers (as set forth
above), notify the Family First Firm and make an appointment to review the
Trustor’s estate planning documents and assist you with some of the remaining
items on this checklist. (Family First Firm offers a free initial consultation, if you
qualify, even if the estate plan was not prepared by Family First Firm.)

In the event that the Trustor’s condition is terminal, or the doctors do not believe
the Trustor will live beyond one year, you should consult with an attorney
regarding the advisability of pursuing last minute estate planning, such as
gifting, paying certain deductible taxes, withdrawing certain taxable accounts,
converting to a Roth IRA, other planning to reduce potential income and estate
taxes or revising the estate plan to be current with recent laws. Generally,
these actions may be taken by you under the Trustor’s Durable Power of Attorney
for Property, but the attorney will need to confirm this by consulting the exact
terms of that document. These last-minute actions may wind up saving
significant sums of money for the Trustor’s loved ones and beneficiaries.

Take the legal steps necessary for you to assume the position of Trustee. If you
are the spouse of the Trustor and have already been serving as a Co-Trustee,
you may be able to act as sole Trustee on certain accounts without requiring
further legal documents. However, it is still advisable that you pursue the
following steps in order to take over other matters as sole Trustee. Whether you
are the spouse or not, the process of installing you as acting Trustee may occur
in one of four ways.

If the Trustor is legally competent, that is, capable of making and agreeing to a
voluntary resignation, you may proceed to act as Trustee once the Trustor signs an
appropriate Trustee resignation document, which should be notarized. You may need
an attorney’s assistance when determining the capacity of the Trustor and formalizing
the resignation document. The original Trustee resignation should be placed with the
original Living Trust document and a copy placed with the other document copies
(that may already be in the Family First Firm “Estate Planning Portfolio”).

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