Q I found your last column interesting. It was where the children had been with their mother when she passed and they “helpfully” contacted agencies to let them know she had died, cleaned out files and did other things they thought would be helpful for the trustee to take care of the administration of the estate. Your response was that the trustee may have needed some of the information in the files that they so helpfully discarded.

My husband and I have also appointed a professional to take care of things when we are gone so, I wonder, are there things we can do to help our trustee with his job?

Is there specific information he should be aware of? Would it be helpful to get rid of most of our furniture, art and jewelry and maybe name certain relatives as beneficiaries of certain accounts, so the trustee doesn’t need to deal with them?

Our goal is to make it as smooth as possible. We want to avoid any chaos or delays in getting our money out to our beneficiaries. What do you think is best?

AI think we all hope that when we have departed, the disposition of our estates will go smoothly with as few delays and disruptions as possible.

When we lose a loved one, we naturally are faced with grief and loss. To have our pain exacerbated by friction or, to use your word, “chaos,” is unneeded and certainly unwelcome.

It is assumed that you have done your estate planning with an attorney and those plans lay out the disposition of your assets. Oddly enough, it is usually personal property — art, jewelry and even kitchenware — that trigger the most emotions in families when the time comes.

Most trusts we see have provisions for distributing personal property and many say something like, “I leave my personal property according to a list that my trustee will find with my other estate planning documents.”

This gives you the opportunity to consider those things that have great meaning to you and to whom you would like to pass on these treasures.If your document has this language, make every attempt to list the items and to whom they should go.

You might even add a comment about why the item is important to you and how you acquired it. Was it a gift from your Aunt Shirley? Why did Aunt Shirley value the item? If you and your husband bought that special painting while on your honeymoon in Paris, note that. Such a trust will usually go on to say something like, “Absent such a written list, my personal property is to be distributed equally to the beneficiaries named in my trust.”

Before death, most professional trustees will (and should) review your documents and sit down with you to gain a full understanding of your intentions and what you would like to happen when it is time to distribute your estate.

When I sit with clients for this kind of discussion, I ask if they plan to leave a list. If they simply want it to go equally, do they mean equal in value or just somewhat in equal shares?

If equal in value, then I understand that the items will be appraised, and those values will be part of that beneficiary’s share of the estate.

I also want to know what to do with the items not taken by beneficiaries, should I donate them and, if so, what kind of charity they prefer.

As for naming relatives as beneficiaries of accounts or setting up a “pay on death” designation, this is a truly bad idea. Your trustee will need cash to pay administration expenses.

They may need immediate cash to pay funeral home charges, perhaps income taxes and, if you have real estate, pay ongoing utility costs and insurance.

Some professional trustees, in particular bank trust departments, will simply decline to step in as trustee if there are no liquid assets available to use during the administration.

Imagine that! We appoint a bank thinking that they will be there when we need them and they simply say “nope, we do not accept the trusteeship.” This can cause real problems.

Provide as much information as possible to your future trustee about your assets, your intentions about the distributions, where to find your current passwords, the keys to a safe deposit box and contact information for your beneficiaries.

Your trustee and your family will thank you for it.

Liza Horvath has over 30 years of experience in the estate planning and trust fields and is the president of Monterey Trust Management, a financial and trust management company. This is not intended to be legal or tax advice. If you have a question call (831) 646-5262 or email liza@montereytrust.com