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Home >> Special Situations >>Incapacitated Individuals
What Can I Do as Trustee?
My grandfather is in his 90s and the beginning stages of Alzheimer's. I am now the trustee on his living trust and have started taking over handling his affairs for him. His monthly social security check, along with his pension check, are made payable to his name. Can I deposit these into his trust account by endorsing them as trustee of his living trust?
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 Your status as trustee does not give you any authority to handle checks payable to your grandfather. You only have authority to deal with property and matters involving the trust itself.
The Treasury Department has specific rules that limit how your grandfather's Social Security check can be handled. Until he is found incompetent, he can endorse them to the trust, and you can deposit them into the trust's accounts. He can also use a special durable form of power of attorney, which includes Treasury-required language, to appoint you or someone else to negotiate the checks for you.
A special durable power of attorney, however, would become invalid after six months after your grandfather is ruled incompetent, should that ever happen. At that point, his guardian would have to arrange with the Social Security Administration to have the checks payable to the guardian on behalf of your grandfather. For further information, contact the local office of the Social Security Administration.
Published on BankingQuestions.com 12/08/09
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