Call our Alabama Trust Attorneys today at (205) 201-1789
Most people learn they are a trustee at the worst possible time, in the week after a death, with a binder they have never opened. The job is manageable with guidance and dangerous without it. The trust ordinarily pays for the attorney, and the first call is free.
In short: When the grantor of a revocable trust dies, the trust becomes irrevocable and the successor trustee takes over: notifying beneficiaries, gathering and inventorying assets, paying debts and taxes, and distributing under the trust’s terms. No court supervises it, which is both the advantage and the risk.
The duties: Alabama’s Uniform Trust Code requires loyalty to the beneficiaries (§ 19-3B-802), prudence in managing assets (§ 19-3B-804), and keeping beneficiaries reasonably informed (§ 19-3B-813). A trustee who breaches them can be personally liable and removed.
For beneficiaries: You are entitled to information, to an accounting, and to distributions on the trust’s terms. A trustee who stonewalls, self-deals, or sits on the assets can be compelled to act by the probate or circuit court, and we represent beneficiaries in exactly those cases.
The biggest mistakes: Mixing trust money with personal money, distributing before debts and taxes are settled, favoring one beneficiary, and ignoring a request for information. Each one creates personal liability that a phone call would have prevented.
What a Successor Trustee Does, in Order
Secure the trust and the assets. Locate the trust document and any amendments, order death certificates, obtain a tax identification number for the now-irrevocable trust, and open a trust account. Identify every asset the trust holds and every asset that should have been in it but was not; the latter go through probate under the pour-over will, and we run that companion estate alongside.
Notify and inventory. Alabama law requires notice to the beneficiaries within a set time of the trust becoming irrevocable, including their right to a copy of the trust. An inventory with date-of-death values follows, which also establishes the stepped-up tax basis for the beneficiaries.
Debts, taxes, and expenses. The decedent’s final income tax return, the trust’s own returns, any estate tax filing, and legitimate creditor claims are handled before distribution. A trustee who distributes first and discovers a debt later may owe it personally.
Distribute and close. Under the trust’s terms, outright or into continuing trusts for young or vulnerable beneficiaries, with an accounting, receipts, and releases that close the trustee’s exposure. Done right, the whole administration takes months rather than the year or more a contested probate can.
When the Trustee Won’t Act
Beneficiaries call us with the same story: a parent died, a sibling is the trustee, and months later there has been no accounting, no distribution, and no answers. Alabama law gives beneficiaries real tools. A written demand for an accounting under § 19-3B-813 is the first step, and it often resolves things. When it does not, a petition to the court can compel an accounting, order distributions, surcharge a trustee for losses, and remove a trustee who has breached their duties or simply will not do the job.
We represent beneficiaries in those matters and trustees defending against them, which means we know what a court expects from both sides. Most disputes settle once everyone sees the numbers; the cases that do not usually involve a trustee who mixed funds or paid themselves, and those are provable.
A trust that operated during the grantor’s life is far harder to attack than a will, but challenges to a trust or an amendment on capacity or undue influence grounds do arise, usually when a late change cut someone out. The framework mirrors a will contest and we handle both.
How We Guide a Trust Administration
The trust ordinarily pays for the attorney. The first call is free.
Free Phone Consultation
We read the trust, identify what it holds and what it does not, flag the deadlines, and tell you what the next thirty days look like. Fee quoted before anything else happens.
Notices, Tax ID, and Inventory
Beneficiary notices under Alabama law, the trust’s tax identification number and account, and a date-of-death inventory that sets the record and the tax basis.
Debts, Taxes, and Any Companion Probate
Final returns, creditor claims, and the pour-over estate for anything left outside the trust, run alongside so nothing is distributed prematurely.
Distribution and Release
Distributions under the trust’s terms, continuing trusts funded where the document requires, and an accounting with receipts and releases that closes the trustee’s exposure.
Trust Administration — Frequently Asked Questions
1.I was just named successor trustee. What do I do first?
Locate the trust document and any amendments, order death certificates, and call before moving any money. The first legal steps are notice to beneficiaries, a tax ID for the trust, and an inventory. Do not pay yourself, distribute, or mix trust funds with your own until those are done.
2.Does a trust have to go through probate in Alabama?
Assets held in the trust do not. Assets the decedent still owned in their own name do, under the pour-over will, and that companion probate estate runs alongside the trust administration. A fully funded trust can eliminate probate; an incompletely funded one reduces it.
3.How long does trust administration take?
A straightforward administration usually runs several months: notices, inventory, final tax returns, any creditor issues, and distribution. Continuing trusts for young beneficiaries stay open by design. Disputes among beneficiaries or an incomplete funding that requires probate lengthen it.
4.Can a trustee be paid?
Yes. Alabama law allows reasonable compensation and reimbursement of expenses, including attorney fees, from the trust unless the document says otherwise. Many family trustees waive the fee; the accounting should still document it either way.
5.As a beneficiary, what am I entitled to?
Notice that the trust exists and that you are a beneficiary, a copy of the trust on request, reasonable information about the assets, periodic accountings, and distributions on the trust’s terms. If the trustee refuses, a written demand is the first step and a court petition is the second; we handle both.
6.What does trust administration cost at The Harris Firm LLC?
The fee depends on the size and complexity of the trust and whether a companion probate estate is needed, and it is quoted at your free phone consultation. The trust ordinarily pays it as an administration expense; it is not the trustee’s personal cost.
Named Trustee, or Waiting on One? Free Phone Consultation.
Trustees: one free call tells you what the job requires and what it costs, paid by the trust. Beneficiaries: one free call tells you what you are owed and how to get it.
Our Trust Administration Service Includes
✓ Trust review and thirty-day action plan
✓ Beneficiary notices and tax ID for the trust
✓ Inventory with date-of-death values
✓ Final returns, creditor claims, and companion probate
✓ Distributions, continuing trusts, receipts, and releases
✓ Beneficiary representation and trustee removal petitions
Call the Office Nearest You
Birmingham — (205) 201-1789
Chelsea — (205) 677-5490
Huntsville — (256) 665-9473
Montgomery — (334) 782-9938
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