OCR Text |
Show Page Two THE SALT LAKE TIMES FRIDAY, AUGUST 20, 1976 UTAHS FEARLESS INDEPENDENT THE SALT LAKE TIMES Combined with The Salt Lake Mining & Legal Newt Published Every Friday at Salt Lake City, Utah Second Class Postage Paid at Salt Lake City, Utah 711 South NEWSPAPER West Temple Telephone Salt Lake Gty. Utah 84101 364-846- 4 GLENN BJORNN, Publisher Thu publication it not owned or controlled by any party, dan, clique, faction or corporation." Number 19 Volume 56 ! New Concert for Terminally 111 Should You Become a Trustee? Mr. A. Smith was a very capable ot the trust and its beneficiaries. businessman and well established Some investments may be illegal if in his community. He had made retained in the trust and you, as investments with a reasonable suc- trustee, may suffer the losses from cess and accumulated an estate of significant value. Upon his unexpected death, his family situation consisted of a surviving spouse, two married daughters, a bachelor son, and a young son who was still a minor. In the formative years of his estate, Mr. Smith had given some thought to management and transfer of his property in the event of his death. He had established a trust that very carefully outlined how the estate was to be managed and distributed to the surviving spouse and children. For reasons known only to Mr. Smith, he designated himself as trustee. Although a very capable businessman and a good financial manager, his experience did not indude a background in the elements of fiduciary (trusteeship) serices. As trustee for himself, he managed the properties of his estate as an individual. In circumstances such as this the individual may inadvertently neglect many very important trust management prindples such as preparation of tax returns, changes of title to assets, accounting requirements, etc. As an inexperienced trustee, Mr. Smith did not relize that upon his death a successor trustee would need to continue with administration of the .trust in order to complete the estate plan that he so carefully initiated. In some instances a surviving spouse or one of the children may be qualified to continue administration of the trust. Assume that you are offered the appointment to serve as successor trustee. Are there hidden liabilities and other obligations that need to be revealed before you accept such an appointment? Indeed there are. Some of the things that should be done are as follows: 1. All securities, assets and records of the trust must be located and delivered to the successor trustee. The tax records and accounting records of the former your personal fortune for failure to make appropriate changes immediately. 3. If Mr. Smiths investments included a closely held business or private family business venture that was involved in the trust,, there may be substantial changes necessary in order to avoid conflicts. 4. Does the trust contain appropriate provisions to relieve the. successor trustee from liability for the actions of the prior trustee? 5. Numerous other problems might include determination that (a) all income tax returns, federal estate tax returns and inheritance tax reports have been properly filed; (b) appropriate waivers or consents from beneficiaries are obtained if necessary under the terms of the trust; (c) court approvals or settlement of any pending litigation is complete. These are a few of the matters that a successor trustee would need to consider. If Mr. .Smith were serving as his own trustee in order to avoid paying for the services of an experienced trustee, it may prove to have been a costly mistake. The legal problems, tax and accounting circumstances that may need attention could cost consider- -' ably more than would have been expended if Mr. Smith had made other arrangements. Once you have accepted the appointment as a trustee, you may also be accepting severe liabilities which cannot be ignored. Mr. Smith was able to control his family and his investments. However, you as an outside party may be subject to the buffeting of diffident spedthrift children, or even demands by the surviving spouse for financial assistance that are completely unreasonable. Mr. Smith would probably be much more at ease with himself if he had designated a qualified trustee to serve as successor trustee and maintained periodic communications with him to keep the trust in proper perspective. It may have been better for him to avoid serving as his own trustee by designating a corporate trustee or other qualified individual. Many times a person accepts an appointment as trustee or executor out of respect for the wishes of the decent, not realizing the liabilities and problems that may be incured for themselves. Thus it is necessary to give careful consideration to the circumstances of the trust or estate prior to accepting such an appointment. Consulting with a bank trust officer experienced in these maters and with an attorney is the wise procedure. - (continued from page 1) known as Brompton mix, a cocktail made up of diamorphine (heroin), cocaine, gin, sugar syrup, and chlorpromazine syrup. At St. Christophers, there is there no such thing as giving too much analgesic is only that amount which is sufficient for continuous pain control. Pain control is only part of what makes the hospice unusual, observes Holden. The rest comes from the atmosphee created by constant attention by the staff and volunteers who spend much time just listening and . .and by the presence of friends and family memers who can drop by almost any time. . . The hospice is designed to accommodate patients with very short prognoses for survival. There is no heroic attempt to prolong life when the disease is hopelessly out of control, although this does not mean that a therapy cannot be applied if the patient wants it. Patients are not usually fed intravenously, nor are antibiotics automatically given for the pneumonia of a terminal patient. When an ulcerated artery begins hemorrhaging, according to Holden, the patient is not given transfusions when the end is clearly in sight anyway; instead he is covered with a blanket so he wont be frightened by the sight of his blood and administered a strong sedative while someone sits close by clasping his hand. The relationships between the hospice phiilosopy and the euthanasia controversy may present an must be examined and apobstacle to successful implementation of hospices in in order to establish a proved this country. However, doctors who are intimately beginning point for the administrainvolved, such as Sunders and Richard Lamerton of tion by the successor trustee. In accepting an appointnment as sucEnglands St. Josephs Hospice, insist on the differ- cessor trustee you must be ence between passive euthanasia and appropriate to avoid assuming any care. In any case, Holdens article suggests that liability for the acts of the former or his failure to perform American physicians objections to the hospice idea trustee such acts as may have been refocus on other factors:. Some are afraid that hospices quired. Vi. In serving as his own truswill lead toward further overspecialization in medical Mr. Smith may make investcare, instead of toward continuous, integrated care; tee, ments suitable to himself. Howsome that the community spirit necessary for ever, a successor trustee must successful operation of hospces (the English models review all investments to determine if such investments are comdepend on volunteer help, and NCI specifies a 12 to 1 patible with theintent and purpose volunteerstaff ration) is simply not attainable in this country; others that hospices will ultimately become movement does not represent a new approach toward dying, but simply an attempt to establish as standard grim nursing homes. Still, the hospices concept appears to be gaining those principles that have always guided the best momentum. NCI is prepared to fund successful grant practitioners. applicants for up to three years each. The Vince Lombardi Cancer Center at Washington, D.C.s Georgetown University, which has operated a home care program for the terminally ill for years, is planning a new facility, and has applied for NCI money. Hospice, Inc., of New Haven Connecticut, the United States only existing facility, is receiving $800,000 a year from NCI, while trying to raise $3 million to open a new center that will house 44 hand-holdin- life-prolongi- g. ng very-caref- ul dial patients, or 700 a year. And, perhaps, more physicians will come to find satisfaction, as one St. Christophers trainee is quoted in Science, from helping to transform a patient in severe pain into one pain free and at peace. After all, concludes writer Holden, the hospice Where thousands of listeners enjoy concert music and news every day! sons-in-la- th- eLEASED GRAPEVINE Commissioners in Salt Lake County this week set Sept. 22 for the sale of $8,675,000 in general, obligation bonds earmarked to finance the Salt Lake County Bicentennial Arts Center. The bond was approved last December by county voters. The money will be combined with a $6.5 million state Bicentennial grant to finance a $10.6 million concert hall north of the Salt Palace and a $4.5 million performing arts center in the old Capitol Theater. The State Division of Health virus laboratories under with direction of Dr. Althea Bailey will begin monitoring this month for any outbreak of swine flu in Utah. Health officials urged doctors to collect throat washings and blood specimens from patients with flulike illness 1 sudden onset of fever, chills, cough, muscle aches and headaches. The last bill on the Main Street Beautification Project, was paid this week by the Salt Lake City Commission, bringing the total cost to $3.5 million, or $700,000 more than the estimate. The final bill this week was $196,505 for cleanup and final loose ends. w, Among 41 scientists cited for major contributions to society in a publication of the American Institute of Chemists are three Utahns. They are named in a special Bicentennial issue of The Chemist, a magazine of the AIC. Named were Dr. Melvin A. Cook, a Salt Lake research chemist, Dr. H. Tracy Hall, a chemistry professor at BYU and Dr. Alex G. Oblad, a research professor at the 'University of Utah. The highest fatality rate on highways in the nation are the mountain states around Utah. A recent study by the State Depart- ment of Transportation safety engineer, Arthur Gnerts, revealed that of the sixteen states involved in the study, Utahs fatality rate is very near the national average. Mountain Fuel Supply Company this week filed a request for a $24.' million rate increase with the Utal Public Service Commission. I granted, the increase will ad between $30 and $40 to an averagi residential consumer's annual bill Mountain Fuel said it was seekinj the increase because of higher fieli costs of gas purchased in the field as mandated by the Federal Powe: Commission July 27, and because o higher costs of gas purchased fron Canada. Chief Justice F. Henri Henriod is waiting actions by the Californi and New York state bars befor deciding whether to admit Watei gate figure Gordon Strachan t practice law. The Utah Suprem Court Chief Justice said, HWe wan to give the fellow a clean bill health and not leave a cloud ove him. We don't want to go out an hurt this fellow or hurt the court" |