Guardianship

Guardianship

Guardianship

Guardianship is when a court orders someone other than the child’s parent to:

Have custody of the child; or
Manage the child’s property (called “estate”); or
Both.
A probate guardianship of the person is set up because a child is living with an adult who is not the child’s parent, and the adult needs a court order to make decisions on behalf of the child. Generally, probate guardianships are for children under 18.

Among the trustee’s responsibilities are:

Collecting, managing, and investing of trust assets and accumulating and distributing income and principal to the beneficiaries.

Keeping the trust’s assets separate from the assets of any other trust as well as any person’s assets. It is important not to commingle the trust’s assets with other assets.

Dealing impartially with the trust’s assets, which includes not using trust assets for the benefit of the trustee, nor taking any action that will result in a conflict of interest between the trustee and the trust or one of the beneficiaries.

Preserving the trust’s assets. If real estate is a trust asset, this would include properly managing the real estate. For stocks and bonds, the trustee should hire someone to properly manage the accounts, which would include following California’s prudent investor rules for investments.

Filing income tax and estate tax returns.

Keeping adequate records of the trust’s activities, including proper bookkeeping and accounting. This is necessary for the filing of the trust’s income tax returns and properly preparing trust accountings.
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