Legal Counsel and Trust Administration in New York
The duties of a trustee are numerous and complex. For the most part, the days of trust administration without nearly constant legal advice are gone. In recognition of the important role that trustees play and the difficult questions they must grapple with, the Manhattan wills and trusts law firm of GREENFIELD STEIN & SENIOR, LLP, offers legal counsel to trustees or to trust beneficiaries.
Contact our New York trust administration lawyers for legal advice and representation relating to all types of trusts:
- Living trust and testamentary trust administration
- Irrevocable and revocable trust administration
- Special needs trust administration
- Charitable trust administration
In the most general sense, the legal counsel we provide in trust administration situations often relates to the definition and execution of "fiduciary duty." The trustee plays a fiduciary role with regard to the trust and the beneficiaries. This means that the trustee must handle the funds for the benefit of the beneficiaries with the same care as if the trustee was handling his or her own funds.
Some common trust administration questions relating to the execution of fiduciary duty are:
- What constitutes proper management?
- What constitutes responsible investment?
- How does one resolve a conflict between two generations of beneficiaries - when the older generation wants the income to be high, even at the expense of growth, but the second generation of beneficiaries wants the income low and the growth high?
- What is the definition of self-dealing and how may it be legally avoided?
- What types of actions must a fiduciary take to adequately investigate an independent investment adviser?
In addition to providing counsel on these complex questions relating to trust administration, GREENFIELD STEIN & SENIOR, LLP, also handles the mundane chores associated with trust administration: accounting, recordkeeping, tax filings, and payouts.
To learn more about our legal team, or to schedule a consultation, contact our midtown Manhattan office.
