Paying Trust Beneficiaries

• 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: 207-219

CHAPTER 13 Paying Trust Beneciaries 207

Chapter13

Paying Trust

Beneciaries

Going through all the song and dance of creating the trust, funding the

trust, and then investing the trust assets is basically pointless unless you

do it to benet someone else: the trust beneciary. The trust beneciary is

the person or institution who’s named in the trust instrument to receive income

and/or principal from the trust.

In this chapter, we explain how, when, and why you make distributions over the

lifetime of the trust to the trust beneciary or beneciaries. We give you the low-

down on the information you need from and about the beneciaries before you

can write that rst check, and how to determine whether you should ever pay

more than the absolute minimum the trust instrument directs you to pay. And

when it’s time to completely discharge your duty as trustee, we tell you what you

need to know to make those nal distributions.

IN THIS CHAPTER

»

Establishing who the trust’s

beneciaries are (and getting the info

you need from them)

»

Setting up the distribution schedule

»

Making proper distributions at the

proper times

»

Handling beneciaries who ask for or

need unscheduled distributions