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Boyd Boyd, P.C.
TRUSTEE SERVICES · PUT YOUR INTENTIONS INTO PRACTICE.
Who Will Carry Out Your Wishes When You Can’t?
Your family needs more than someone’s name in a Trust. Plan who will make decisions, provide support, and carry out the responsibilities your Estate Plan creates.
What Are Trustee Services—and How Are They Different From Legal Advice?
Trustee Services concern the ongoing responsibility for administering a Trust: managing its property, evaluating distributions, keeping records, and carrying out its terms for beneficiaries. An attorney advising a trustee and a professional serving as trustee have different roles. Boyd Boyd, P.C. can discuss legal guidance, a co-trustee arrangement, or a successor trustee appointment. The fiduciary, responsibilities, acceptance, and fees must be identified separately.
The Trust Provided for Support. The Trustee Failed to Ask What Was Needed.
A REAL CASE. A REASON TO CHOOSE FOR THE WORK.
In Marsman v. Nasca (1991), a Massachusetts Trust allowed principal to be used for a surviving husband’s support. The Appeals Court concluded that the trustee had failed to investigate his needs and exercise the judgment the Trust required.
The court upheld the finding that proper administration would have enabled the beneficiary to retain his home, while changing the remedy and sending the case back for further proceedings.
This public case was not a Boyd Boyd, P.C. client matter. Its lesson is practical: discretion is a responsibility to make informed decisions, not permission to leave a beneficiary’s needs unexplored.
What Would You Like to Understand?
Choose a question. The cards below will adapt to the concern you select.
You can change your question at any time.
YOUR QUESTION, ANSWERED
What Are Trustee Services—and How Are They Different From Legal Advice?
A Trust Can State Your Wishes. Someone Still Has to Carry Them Out.
Trustee Services concern the ongoing responsibility for administering a Trust: managing its property, evaluating distributions, keeping records, and carrying out its terms for beneficiaries.
An attorney advising a trustee and a professional serving as trustee have different roles. Boyd Boyd, P.C. can discuss legal guidance, a co-trustee arrangement, or a successor trustee appointment. The fiduciary, responsibilities, acceptance, and fees must be identified separately.
YOUR FAMILY’S FUTURE
What This Means for Your Family
You may want your spouse or children to receive support without having to learn Trust administration during a difficult time.
The right arrangement gives the plan a person or team capable of putting it into practice.
THE DETAIL THAT MATTERS
What to Review Before You Rely on the Plan
Signing a Trust does not identify who will do every task or confirm that a nominated successor is willing to serve.
Discuss the transition, decision-making authority, and practical work before anyone must take over.
YOUR NEXT DECISION
Give Your Trust a Practical Plan for Administration.
Discuss who will carry out your intentions and whether family administration, professional guidance, or a fiduciary appointment best fits your needs.
YOUR QUESTION, ANSWERED
Should I Choose a Family Member or a Professional Trustee?
The Person You Trust Most May Not Want the Job You Are Giving Them.
A family member may know the beneficiaries well, while a professional may bring administrative experience and continuity. The choice depends on the Trust, assets, relationships, and the candidate’s willingness and ability to serve.
Evaluate availability, judgment, recordkeeping, impartiality, and the ability to work with tax and investment professionals. Family trustees can also seek professional legal support.
YOUR FAMILY’S FUTURE
What This Means for Your Family
Consider whether administering the Trust would help or strain family relationships. A child deciding whether a sibling receives money faces a different role from simply being a sibling.
Choose a structure that supports the family as well as the assets.
THE DETAIL THAT MATTERS
What to Review Before You Rely on the Plan
Professional status does not eliminate the need for due diligence. Ask about the actual fiduciary, service scope, communication, compensation, and succession.
A family member’s willingness should also be confirmed. Nomination alone is not a practical transition plan.
YOUR NEXT DECISION
Choose for the Responsibility, Not Just the Relationship.
Discuss potential trustees, the work your Trust requires, and how the arrangement could affect your family.
YOUR QUESTION, ANSWERED
Can a Professional Work Alongside My Family Trustee?
Your Family’s Knowledge and Professional Guidance Can Work Together.
A co-trustee arrangement may combine family involvement with professional administration, when permitted by the Trust and accepted by the proposed fiduciaries.
The document and engagement should address decision-making authority, responsibilities, disagreements, and how either trustee is replaced. Co-trusteeship is different from hiring an attorney to advise a sole trustee.
YOUR FAMILY’S FUTURE
What This Means for Your Family
Your family member may want to remain involved without carrying every administrative responsibility alone.
Clarifying who decides and who performs the work can make that involvement more manageable.
THE DETAIL THAT MATTERS
What to Review Before You Rely on the Plan
Two names on a document do not automatically produce shared understanding. Overlapping duties or unclear authority can cause delay.
Discuss whether advice, delegated tasks, or an actual co-trustee appointment provides the support needed.
YOUR NEXT DECISION
Define the Roles Before Sharing the Responsibility.
Discuss whether a co-trustee structure would help and how duties, authority, and communication should be organized.
YOUR QUESTION, ANSWERED
What Happens When a Successor Trustee Takes Over?
The Handoff Should Be Planned Before the Family Needs It.
A successor trustee takes over under the Trust’s terms when the conditions for succession are satisfied and the appointment is accepted. Incapacity and death may trigger different procedures.
The transition should address authority, records, asset access, beneficiary communications, and coordination with other fiduciaries. A trustee’s authority generally concerns Trust property, not every asset or medical decision.
YOUR FAMILY’S FUTURE
What This Means for Your Family
Your family should know where the documents are, who to contact, and how immediate support will be handled.
A prepared handoff can reduce uncertainty when everyone is already facing a major change.
THE DETAIL THAT MATTERS
What to Review Before You Rely on the Plan
Assets left outside the Trust may require separate authority or Estate Administration. A named successor cannot simply manage every account because a Trust exists.
Review funding, titles, beneficiary designations, and the other documents that work with the Trust.
YOUR NEXT DECISION
Make the Transition Easier to Understand and Carry Out.
Discuss succession provisions, asset access, and what your family will need if you become incapacitated or die.
YOUR QUESTION, ANSWERED
How Does a Trustee Decide When Beneficiaries Receive Money?
Discretion Requires Judgment. It Does Not Mean Doing Nothing.
The trustee must follow the Trust’s distribution provisions and applicable fiduciary duties. Discretionary support requires an informed evaluation of the beneficiary’s circumstances and the purposes of the Trust.
A health, education, maintenance, and support standard may guide distributions. The actual terms determine the beneficiaries, available support, and limits; they should not be replaced by a trustee’s personal preferences.
YOUR FAMILY’S FUTURE
What This Means for Your Family
You may want an inheritance to meet real needs while preserving resources for the future.
An appropriate process helps beneficiaries understand what support is available and how requests are considered.
THE DETAIL THAT MATTERS
What to Review Before You Rely on the Plan
Outright distributions and continued Trust ownership can have different tax and protection effects. The trustee should evaluate those consequences rather than treating every request identically.
Trust-held investments or properly authorized loans may be appropriate in some circumstances. They require the authority, records, and administration the arrangement calls for.
YOUR NEXT DECISION
Make Your Intended Support Work in Practice.
Discuss distribution standards, beneficiary needs, and how access can be coordinated with continuing inheritance protection.
YOUR QUESTION, ANSWERED
What Records and Accountability Should Beneficiaries Expect?
A Family Should Not Have to Guess What Happened to the Trust.
Trust administration requires records of assets, liabilities, receipts, payments, and distributions. Massachusetts law imposes information and reporting duties, subject to the Trust’s terms and applicable law.
Clear communication, appropriate accounting, and documented decisions help beneficiaries understand administration and help the trustee demonstrate how duties were carried out.
YOUR FAMILY’S FUTURE
What This Means for Your Family
When people understand the process, there is less room for uncertainty to become suspicion.
Discuss how beneficiaries will receive information and who will answer questions.
THE DETAIL THAT MATTERS
What to Review Before You Rely on the Plan
Trust administration can involve tax filings and investment decisions as well as distributions. Identify who prepares returns, advises on investments, and maintains the records.
Separate legal representation, fiduciary authority, and other professional roles so responsibility is clear.
YOUR NEXT DECISION
Build Accountability Into the Administration Plan.
Discuss reporting, records, communication, and the professionals needed to support responsible Trust administration.
YOUR QUESTION, ANSWERED
What Does Professional Trustee Support Cost?
Compare the Responsibility Being Accepted, Not Just the Fee.
Trustee compensation and fees for legal, accounting, or other services are different items. The proposed arrangement should explain the basis of compensation, included work, additional charges, and who pays them.
Most Estate Planning at Boyd Boyd, P.C. is done on a flat-fee basis. Ongoing Trustee Services or Trust Administration requires its own scope and fee discussion; do not assume it carries the same pricing structure.
YOUR FAMILY’S FUTURE
What This Means for Your Family
The relevant value includes the responsibility someone accepts, the time your family may save, and the quality of the administration.
Ask what happens during routine periods and when unusual decisions or disputes arise.
THE DETAIL THAT MATTERS
What to Review Before You Rely on the Plan
A percentage, hourly rate, or flat amount cannot be meaningfully compared without the scope. Identify investment, tax, legal, and extraordinary-service charges separately.
Under Massachusetts law, trustee compensation is governed by the Trust’s terms and applicable reasonableness requirements.
YOUR NEXT DECISION
Understand the Scope Before You Compare the Price.
Discuss the support your Trust needs and request a clear explanation of roles, compensation, and additional professional costs.
IN A REVIEWER’S OWN WORDS
Clear Explanations
★★★★★ 5-Star Google Review
“They were immediately responsive and explained all we needed to know.”
— Bob
Review excerpts reflect individual experiences and do not guarantee an outcome for another family.
Your Family at the Center. Our Team Beside You.
F. Keats Boyd III and Whitney N. Tashjian help families think through important Estate Planning and Wealth Protection Planning decisions. At Boyd Boyd, P.C., the conversation begins with what you want to protect and what you want the next generation to understand.
Quick Answers: Trustee Services
What Are Trustee Services—and How Are They Different From Legal Advice?
Trustee Services concern the ongoing responsibility for administering a Trust: managing its property, evaluating distributions, keeping records, and carrying out its terms for beneficiaries. An attorney advising a trustee and a professional serving as trustee have different roles. Boyd Boyd, P.C. can discuss legal guidance, a co-trustee arrangement, or a successor trustee appointment. The fiduciary, responsibilities, acceptance, and fees must be identified separately.
Should I Choose a Family Member or a Professional Trustee?
A family member may know the beneficiaries well, while a professional may bring administrative experience and continuity. The choice depends on the Trust, assets, relationships, and the candidate’s willingness and ability to serve. Evaluate availability, judgment, recordkeeping, impartiality, and the ability to work with tax and investment professionals. Family trustees can also seek professional legal support.
Can a Professional Work Alongside My Family Trustee?
A co-trustee arrangement may combine family involvement with professional administration, when permitted by the Trust and accepted by the proposed fiduciaries. The document and engagement should address decision-making authority, responsibilities, disagreements, and how either trustee is replaced. Co-trusteeship is different from hiring an attorney to advise a sole trustee.
What Happens When a Successor Trustee Takes Over?
A successor trustee takes over under the Trust’s terms when the conditions for succession are satisfied and the appointment is accepted. Incapacity and death may trigger different procedures. The transition should address authority, records, asset access, beneficiary communications, and coordination with other fiduciaries. A trustee’s authority generally concerns Trust property, not every asset or medical decision.
How Does a Trustee Decide When Beneficiaries Receive Money?
The trustee must follow the Trust’s distribution provisions and applicable fiduciary duties. Discretionary support requires an informed evaluation of the beneficiary’s circumstances and the purposes of the Trust. A health, education, maintenance, and support standard may guide distributions. The actual terms determine the beneficiaries, available support, and limits; they should not be replaced by a trustee’s personal preferences.
What Records and Accountability Should Beneficiaries Expect?
Trust administration requires records of assets, liabilities, receipts, payments, and distributions. Massachusetts law imposes information and reporting duties, subject to the Trust’s terms and applicable law. Clear communication, appropriate accounting, and documented decisions help beneficiaries understand administration and help the trustee demonstrate how duties were carried out.
What Does Professional Trustee Support Cost?
Trustee compensation and fees for legal, accounting, or other services are different items. The proposed arrangement should explain the basis of compensation, included work, additional charges, and who pays them. Most Estate Planning at Boyd Boyd, P.C. is done on a flat-fee basis. Ongoing Trustee Services or Trust Administration requires its own scope and fee discussion; do not assume it carries the same pricing structure.
Explore the Related Planning Questions
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Boyd Boyd, P.C. · Updated October 4, 2026
Can We Work Together if You Live Outside Massachusetts?
Boyd Boyd, P.C. assists families nationwide. Families outside Massachusetts may come to our office to sign, or we may work with co-counsel licensed in their home state. The property, applicable law, and proposed role determine how the work should be structured.
YOUR FREE ESTATE PLANNING STRATEGY SESSION
Give Your Trust a Practical Plan for Administration.
Discuss who will carry out your intentions and whether family administration, professional guidance, or a fiduciary appointment best fits your needs.
What Would Greater Clarity About Your Family’s Future Be Worth?
Less uncertainty about who will make important decisions. Greater clarity about how loved ones can receive support. A more manageable responsibility for the family member you nominate. More confidence that the administration plan fits the intentions behind your Trust.
Your Strategy Session is free. Additional legal work requires a separate engagement. No protection or outcome is guaranteed.
(508) 444-9688 · Tell our team which inheritance concern brought you here.
1555 Iyannough Road, Unit 1BW • Hyannis, Massachusetts 02601
(508) 444-9688 • plan@boydandboydpc.com
© 2026 Boyd Boyd, P.C.
General information only. Legal advice depends on your circumstances and an attorney-client engagement.