The 75th “Wealth Actually” Podcast . . . Wow . . . it seems like I just started this project a few months ago. It has been 4 and a half years since the first one . . . it’s alarming how fast time flies. Hopefully, I have improved over time!

This 75th recording is an industry specific interview, but it has wide ramifications. In getting up to speed on a different project, I stumbled across the book “Ethics for Trustees 2.0” by MARGUERITE LORENZ. Based in California, Marguerite is a Master Trustee and the Managing Partner of LORENZ PRIVATE TRUSTEES.

Ethic for Trustees 2.0 is a quick and extremely informative read on the roles and responsibilities of a trustee and the establishment of good practices around decision-making that involves judgment and discretion. It also went into some detail about the California licensing component of individual trustees- something I knew little about. So in typical “me” fashion, I called up Marguerite to find out more about the book and her firm’s unique practice. That led to her gracious appearance on the latest “Wealth, Actually” podcast.

We covered:

-Her unique background and the formation of her private trustee business. (It has its own unique succession story too!)

-Marguerite’s rationale and experience in writing the book

-The Definitions of a Trust, their uses and some of the nomenclature

-The Duties of a Trustee/Fiduciary- (many of which trustees aren’t aware of)!

-What makes a good trustee?  How does one deal with arguing beneficiaries? Tricky assets?

-The Origin of CALIFORNIA LICENSING FOR PROFESSIONAL TRUSTEES (and why it may be important for normally exempted attorneys and CPAs to get licensed.

-When does advice graduate from being to transactional to ongoing and how does it relate to administration of structures and discretionary decision-making?

-Traps for the unwary trustee 

-What functions or areas of trustee responsibility are good to ask for help? When do you bring in outside experts?

-Useful Resources and Groups:

INDEPENDENT TRUSTEE ALLIANCE

ESTATE PLANNING GROUP NETWORK

-How do we stay in touch?

MARGUERITE LORENZ LINKEDIN

LORENZ PRIVATE TRUSTEES (WEBSITE)

MARGUERITE LORENZ TWITTER