1. Technical Expertise Financial institutions are staffed with experts with degrees in law, business, and accounting, and have other additional training to prepare them to deal effectively with complicated estate and trust matters. For this reason, banks and trust companies can generally administer the estate of a deceased person with greater accuracy and efficiency than an individual. 2. Connections Most financial institutions that administer trusts and estates have been doing so for many years. Over that time, they have built many professional connections with, among others, attorneys, realtors, accountants, appraisers, and auction companies that all play a role in administering the affairs of a deceased person. These connections make the process of administering the estate or trust more efficient and cost effective. 3. Impartiality An individual executor or trustee must distribute the property of the deceased person according to the terms of their Will or trust agreement. This can put that individual in an awkward or difficult position with friends or family members who are not happy with the terms of the trust (i.e. they don’t believe they received their fair share). These unhappy individuals may even go as far as to blame the executor or trustee. Financial institutions, on the other hand, have no personal stake in the affairs of a deceased person and cannot easily be accused of such favoritism or partiality.
4. Liability Probate, real estate, and tax laws are very complex. Even a well-informed and well-intentioned individual can make a critical mistake. In addition to causing additional work and delay to fix, such a mistake could also expose the individual executor or trustee to legal action. Corporate executors and trustees have the expertise, experience, and institutional memory to avoid most issues that could cause potential liability. 5. Time Even if an individual executor or successor trustee is able to perform his or her work perfectly, the administration of a deceased person’s affairs is still a vast undertaking. Some complex estate plans can require hundreds of hours of work over a period of years. Even small and relatively simple estate plans can demand dozens of hours of work and attention. Those who work full time and have a family often do not have the time to take on the work of an executor or a trustee. This is especially true when the person nominated as executor or trustee is a close friend or family member of the deceased, as he or she must also confront their grief at the deceased person’s loss at the same time. Naming a bank or trust company as a corporate executor or trustee saves loved ones the added stress and work of winding up your affairs, especially at a time when their grief has put them in poor position to handle it.
If you have further questions, we invite you to schedule a meeting with one of our experienced Trust and Wealth Management Officers by calling 1-800-899-8858 or by email at Trust@HillsBank.com. We look forward to serving you as your trusted advisor.
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