Page 57 - Successor Trustee Handbook

Remember, it is important to balance the checking account/checkbook register on a
monthly basis. If this is difficult for you to do, you may want to have somebody else
do it for you and, assuming their fee is reasonable, you may pay their fee from the
Trust account. Do not have that same person also provide services for you
personally, such as also paying your bills or balancing your personal checking
account; otherwise, there may be a question later as to whether you paid fees from
the Trust that benefited you personally and were not truly Trust-related.

Other than properly utilizing your Trust checking account, the only other key
aspect of recordkeeping that you need to stay on top of is maintaining careful
records of all transactions. This simply means properly organizing and using a
simple file system. There are basically three sets of files that you will keep: (1) files
for individual assets (such as banking accounts, certificates of deposit, stocks,
bonds, mutual funds, IRAs, annuities, retirement plans, individual pieces of real
estate), where you’ll place such items as periodic statements, important
correspondence and appraisals; (2) files for each regular or recurring payee (person
or company you write checks to monthly), where you’ll place copies of paid bills
marked with the payment check number (you may also want to keep a
“miscellaneous payee” file for non-recurring bills); and, (3) a tax file for each
calendar year, where you’ll place copies of estimated tax vouchers, income
reporting forms received from third-parties (such as 1098s), and all IRS/state tax
authority correspondence and notices.

In summary, you as Trustee are expected to maintain the same type of
recordkeeping that you would do for yourself, assuming you are organized! If you
are not organized, you should immediately seek the assistance of someone qualified
to do the recordkeeping for you! Be assured that, so long as when you first assume
the role of Trustee you handle the challenge of gathering and organizing the various
records the Trustor left behind, you’ll be okay—but again, if that seems too
overwhelming or confusing, simply seek professional help, and remember that the
Trust can pay for it!

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