Creating and Keeping Trust Records

• Author: Margaret A. Munro, Kathryn A. Murphy
• Profession: Has more than 30 years' experience in trusts, estates, family tax, and small businesses/Attorney with more than 20 years' experience administering estates and trusts and preparing estate and gift tax returns
• Pages: 221-233

CHAPTER 14 Creating and Keeping Trust Records 221

Chapter14

Creating and Keeping

Trust Records

You probably know at least one person who never balances his checkbook,

who keeps track of his money by rounding to the nearest dollar or ten, who

thinks that he must have money in the account because he still has checks

in the checkbook, and who shows up at his accountant’s oce on April 14 with a

shoe box of receipts. We’d love to be able to tell you that you can administer a trust

this way— that the trust elves come in each night to do all the work of the trust—

but we’d be lying. A competently managed trust is one where you keep, maintain,

and update records on a regular basis. You have no room in trust management for

approximation or procrastination; every penny counts and must be counted. In

this chapter, we explain the nuts and bolts of what records you should keep, the

information you need to create them, and how long to retain them.

Creating a Filing System

Organization is the key, and no more so than when you’re a trustee. The grantor

has relied on you to handle the trust’s assets competently. When you’re orga-

nized, you know where the trust’s important documents and records are, which

helps you to properly and eciently administer the trust.

IN THIS CHAPTER

»

Putting together a ling system

»

Creating an inventory

»

Preparing annual accounts