Opening Phase of Trust Settlement
The successor trustee collects and reviews legal documents, presents paperwork to financial institutions to control trust assets, and identifies and notifies trust beneficiaries.
Interim Phase of Trust Settlement
The sucessor truste deals with creditors claims and liabilities, crafts a trust settlement agreement with beneficiaries, deals with any troublesome assets, and continues to marshall the assets of the trust.
Closing Phase of Trust Settlement
The successor trust accounts to beneficiaries, makes distributions of the trust to beneficiaries, and otherwise wraps the trust up (unless the trust has provisions for continuation of the trust).