Are you overwhelmed by the details of managing your investments?

 

Use an Agent for Trustee to oversee your accounts.

Are you the trustee of another family member's trust? Or, is the day-to-day management of your estate and investments becoming too time-consuming? By incorporating an Agent for Trustee, you can maintain control of your trust and investment accounts while handing over the day-to-day administrative tasks and account monitoring to a professional.

If there are multiple family members as beneficiaries of a trust, such as siblings who inherited a trust from their parents or were named as trustee, assigning one family member as trustee may cause a rift in the family. It's important to let family be family, and an Agent for Trustee can serve as a professional, non-biased resource for the family.

Learn how a family brought in MassMutual Trust Company as Agent for Trustee to help manage their parents' estate and foster family harmony.

Meet the Coopers

The Cooper children lost both of their parents to illness in the past few years. Patrick is 38 years old and is the oldest of the three kids. Nicole and Nora are twins and are 36. As the oldest, Patrick was named as trustee of their parents' trust.

The current situation

Patrick has been taking care of his family's inheritance for almost a year. He is quickly becoming overwhelmed by the details of managing his parents' assets. Patrick didn't realize the administrative work, tax preparation and reporting, and legal responsibilities involved as trustee.

In addition, no one is monitoring the investment of assets or making modifications due to market changes or the need to reallocate funds. Patrick's siblings are beginning to question his ability and have begun arguing with him over how the funds should be managed and distributed.

Benefits of selecting MassMutual Trust as Agent for Trustee:

• Family member retains control of the account
• Get help with day-to-day maintenance of account
• Chief Investment Officer oversight managing and monitoring assets

If the situation stays the same

If Patrick remains the sole trustee of the inherited account, he may overlook important tax and legal paperwork. The account may lose value due to his lack of experience in investing and the proper allocation of assets.

In addition, the relationship among the siblings may suffer. Money issues can change the family dynamic. The twins may begin to resent Patrick's control over the account, and Patrick may become frustrated with their lack of trust in him.

When the family chooses MassMutual Trust as Agent for Trustee

Patrick decides to talk to MassMutual Trust about becoming Agent for Trustee. With this relationship, Patrick is still trustee as his parents wanted. He retains access to all account details and operations. However, Patrick can rely on MassMutual Trust as a professional, non-biased resource to make some of the more challenging decisions that may affect his siblings. He can let MassMutual Trust manage and communicate these decisions, helping to maintain family harmony.

MassMutual Trust also acts as Agent for Trustee and provides valuable and efficient management services for the Cooper family. These services include: a custom-designed investment strategy, investing assets prudently, ongoing account monitoring, day-to-day administration and recordkeeping, and tax services. In addition, MassMutual Trust provides the Coopers with personalized service — giving them access to their own Trust Officer and Investment Officer any time they have questions.

The results

By bringing in MassMutual Trust as Agent for Trust, the Cooper family can focus on being a family. While Patrick retains his role as trustee as his parents wished, the Coopers also benefit from MassMutual Trust's personal trust and wealth management experience. The Cooper children benefit from personalized service and competitive investment performance, and Patrick has peace of mind knowing that MassMutual Trust is overseeing the day-to-day management of the trust.

To learn more about the MassMutual Trust Company's personalized trust and wealth management services, call us today at 1-888-894-5354.