Legal Question in Wills and Trusts in Arizona

When your mother passes, the successor trustee of the trusts has the legal authority over the assets owned by the trusts and can carry out the terms and provisions of the trusts as set forth therein. Assets owned by your mother, not owned or titled in the name of the trusts, are subject to probate and would require the appointment of a personal representative to pay bills, claims, taxes and then distribute the assets according to the will (unless the total value of the assets is less than $50,000, which may then pass to the heirs by affidavit). You should immediately confer with legal counsel to determine where the situs of the trusts is located and which state law is controlling. The state where your mother lives, and dies, controls the probate, the terms of the trusts controls the trusts. You do not need an attorney to carry out the terms of the trusts (if you are the named successor trustee, the person named in the trust agreement, is the one who administers the trust after your mother passes). However, most persons need the advice and counsel of a lawyer to guide them through the process and to help avoid disputes among the heirs and beneficiaries.

Since your mother is alert, she may have legal capacity to change or modify the trusts, if she wants to, or make arrangements now in order to make the work, after she passes, much less. She might even want to make gifts now, while she is still alive. If your mother has legal capacity, you would be well advised to consult with someone capable, now, and make sure all is in order, as your mother would like it to be. It doesn't matter what the financial advisor knows about where the funds are and where the funds go upon her death, that is for the successor trustee to know and understand. The financial advisor has no legal authority.