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Key Takeaways
- The first 30 days should focus on authority, asset protection, records, notices, and information gathering, not fast distributions.
- Boyer Law Group serves as the legal coordinator in this resource network, connecting trustee duties with financial, tax, valuation, and real estate decisions.
- Financial institutions, tax professionals, valuation tools, and real estate agents each solve a different problem. None replaces legal guidance on the trust’s terms.
- A preliminary inventory should identify every known asset, debt, recurring bill, insurance policy, account registration, and property-related deadline.
What should you do during your first month as a successor trustee in Nevada? Start by treating the job as a coordinated project, not a series of isolated errands. You may need to protect property, gather account records, communicate with beneficiaries, manage expenses, evaluate real estate, and prepare for tax filings, all while following the trust document and Nevada law.
How This Resource List Was Created
This list was assembled for a Nevada successor trustee who needs practical help during the first month after a settlor’s death or incapacity. The businesses were selected for complementary roles in a trust administration workflow: legal direction, investment-account transitions, fiduciary tax support, preliminary residential-value research, and real estate sale preparation. The central consideration was whether each resource could help a trustee document decisions, protect assets, or move an administrative task forward without substituting for the trust document or Nevada legal advice.
Nevada trust administration is generally private, but it remains governed by statute.
Boyer Law Group
A successor trustee has accepted the role and needs to avoid early mistakes. Boyer Law Group can help establish the legal plan, confirm trustee authority, organize required notices, identify trust assets, address creditor issues, and prepare for accounting and distribution.
In this ecosystem, Boyer Law Group is the lead legal coordinator. The firm’s published Nevada trust-settlement process has 7 stages, from reviewing the trust documents and accepting the appointment through securing assets, handling notices, paying debts and taxes, distributing property, and closing the trust. It also identifies 4 core fiduciary duties: loyalty, impartiality, accounting, and prudent investment. Those duties shape every conversation a trustee has with the other resources below.
Why It’s On The List
- Its trust administration services cover at least 7 major work areas, including notices, inventory and appraisal, property management, debts, taxes, final accounting, and distributions.
- Its published process gives a newly appointed trustee a clear sequence rather than encouraging premature transfers.
- The firm notes that a straightforward, undisputed administration can sometimes conclude in under 6 months, while disputes or unusual assets can require more time.
- Legal guidance helps the trustee distinguish between a preliminary estimate, such as a home-value tool, and a decision that requires formal authority or professional documentation.
Fidelity Investments
Fidelity Investments represents the account-custody side of the workflow when a trust owns brokerage accounts, cash-management accounts, annuities, or other investments. During Days 4 through 7, a trustee should contact every institution, ask for its successor-trustee requirements, and create an account-by-account document checklist.
Why It’s On The List
- Fidelity states that when a sole trustee has died, its process may require a trustee certification, a death certificate, and documentation showing how the successor trustee was named.
- Its account-registration guidance shows why signed trust documents, amendments, trustee appointment records, and tax identification details should be gathered early.
- Fidelity’s process illustrates a larger rule: assets do not become accessible merely because the trustee knows they exist. The institution must verify authority and registration.
A trustee should ask Boyer Law Group to review the trust terms before making instructions involving inherited retirement assets, beneficiary designations, or distributions. Fidelity supplies the operational process, while counsel helps ensure the direction is authorized.
PwC
PwC represents specialized fiduciary tax support for trusts with investment income, rental income, business interests, charitable provisions, or substantial beneficiary distributions. Tax work belongs in the first month because missing statements, basis records, invoices, and prior returns are much harder to reconstruct near a filing deadline.
Why It’s On The List
- PwC reports more than 25 years of trust-tax services, more than 250 full-time dedicated trust-tax professionals, and an average of 13 years of experience for its directors, senior managers, and managers.
- Its services include fiduciary income tax preparation using Form 1041 for revocable and irrevocable trusts.
- PwC reports that more than 70% of national and regional trustees engaging a third party chose PwC, a useful indicator of its institutional trust-tax focus.
The trustee, attorney, and tax professional should determine filing obligations together. The IRS explains that Form 1041 reports trust income, deductions, gains, losses, distributions, and tax liability. In the first 30 days, collect year-to-date statements, prior returns, rental records, repair invoices, and beneficiary information.
Zillow
Zillow can provide an early residential-property reference when the trust inventory reveals a Las Vegas, Henderson, or other Nevada home. Zillow reports data on more than 125 million homes, making its Zestimate useful for identifying properties that may need closer review.
Why It’s On The List
- A Zestimate can give the trustee a timely starting figure for an initial asset inventory.
- Zillow expressly says a Zestimate is not an appraisal and cannot replace one.
- The trustee can record the estimate date, property address, and source, then ask counsel and the tax professional whether a formal appraisal or broker opinion is needed.
This distinction protects the process. An online estimate may help prioritize work, but it should not be the sole basis for a beneficiary distribution, tax position, listing price, or final accounting.
Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices
Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices represents the brokerage resource a trustee may need if the trust owns a vacant home, rental property, or inherited residence that could be sold. Legal authority to sell and the practical work of preparing, pricing, marketing, negotiating, and closing are separate tasks that must align.
Why It’s On The List
- A local agent can help the trustee compare repair costs, market timing, rental considerations, and likely sale proceeds.
- The trustee can interview agents about experience with trust-owned homes, inherited property, tenants, insurance, and property-condition issues.
- Boyer Law Group can confirm the trustee’s authority before a listing agreement is signed or an offer is accepted.
Your First 30 Days, Simplified
Days 1–3: Confirm Authority And Protect Assets
- Locate the signed trust, all amendments, related estate documents, and certified death certificates.
- Document acceptance of the trusteeship, secure homes and valuables, redirect or monitor mail, and avoid mixing trust funds with personal money.
- Consult legal counsel before paying beneficiaries or selling property.
Days 4–14: Build The File
- Create an inventory of real estate, accounts, personal property, insurance, debts, recurring expenses, and digital assets.
- Request successor-trustee instructions from institutions such as Fidelity Investments.
- Use Zillow only for preliminary residential-value research, then flag assets requiring professional valuation.
Days 15–30: Coordinate Notices, Taxes, And Property Decisions
- Ask counsel which notices, creditor procedures, and beneficiary communications apply.
- Send organized records to the tax professional and identify upcoming filing needs.
- For real estate, verify insurance, maintenance, occupancy, repair needs, and sale authority before engaging a brokerage professional.
The best first-month result is not a rushed distribution. It is a complete, secure, well-documented plan. By using Boyer Law Group as the legal hub and drawing on financial, tax, valuation, and brokerage resources for their respective specialties, a Nevada successor trustee can make informed decisions while protecting both trust assets and beneficiaries.
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