West Virginia Trust Administration

If you are the named successor trustee of a West Virginia revocable living trust, your job after the grantor dies is to step in, take control of the trust property, give beneficiaries the notice the law requires, pay valid debts and taxes, keep a clean account, and distribute what is left under the trust terms. Most of that work stays out of court.

West Virginia trusts run under the West Virginia Uniform Trust Code, W. Va. Code Chapter 44D. That code sets your duties, the notice you owe beneficiaries, and how you account for what you did. This guide walks the process in plain terms and points to the exact section so you can read the law yourself. If some property was never moved into the trust, the West Virginia probate guide covers the County Commission process those assets may still need.

Trust Administration Is Not Probate

A funded revocable living trust settles privately. There is no appraisement to return to the Clerk of the County Commission, no Fiduciary Supervisor to review your numbers, and no reference to a fiduciary commissioner. You answer to the beneficiaries and to the trust terms, not to a county office.

That is the split to hold in your head. A probate estate moves through the County Commission and follows the West Virginia executor duties track. A trust moves outside of it. Only assets the grantor left in their own name, without a trust title or a beneficiary designation, drop back into probate.

The Successor Trustee's Job at a Glance

Here is the sequence most West Virginia trust administrations follow:

Accept the trusteeship and read the full trust document plus any amendments.
Order certified death certificates and secure the trust's property.
Get a tax ID number for the trust and open a trust bank account.
Notify the current beneficiaries as the West Virginia Uniform Trust Code directs.
Identify, gather, and value all trust assets.
Pay valid debts, final bills, and taxes.
Keep beneficiaries informed and send a report.
Distribute the remaining assets under the trust terms and close the trust.

Each step below explains what the code expects and where probate can still come into play.

Step 1: Accept the Trusteeship

When the grantor dies, the revocable trust becomes irrevocable. Under W. Va. Code 44D-6-602, the grantor could revoke or amend the trust while living. That power ends at death, so you administer the trust as written and no one may change its terms.

Under W. Va. Code 44D-7-701, you accept the role by following the method written in the trust, or by accepting delivery of the trust property, using your powers, performing duties as trustee, or signing a record that states you accept. A named trustee who does not accept within a reasonable time after learning of the designation is treated as having rejected the job.

You do not have to serve. If you are unsure, do not start managing assets before you decide, because acting as trustee can count as acceptance. You may take steps to preserve property or inspect it while you weigh the decision, as long as you send a rejection within a reasonable time if you step aside.

If you do accept, read the entire trust document. Note who the beneficiaries are, what each one receives, any conditions on distributions, whether the trust pays you for your work, and who serves after you.

Step 2: Secure Property and Get Organized

Move quickly to protect the trust's assets:

Order at least 10 to 15 certified death certificates. Banks, title companies, and transfer agents each want their own copy.
Secure the home, vehicles, valuables, and important papers. Change the locks if the grantor lived alone.
Keep insurance on real estate and vehicles in force so a lapse does not expose the trust to a loss.
Redirect the mail so you can find bills, account statements, and tax notices.

Get a Trust Tax ID and Bank Account

While the grantor was alive, a revocable trust usually used the grantor's Social Security number. After death, the trust needs its own Employer Identification Number. Apply free through the IRS. Then open a checking account in the trust's name using that number, and run every trust payment through it. Keeping trust money separate from your own money builds a clean record and protects you later.

Step 3: Notify the Beneficiaries

This is the duty the West Virginia Uniform Trust Code spells out most clearly, and the one new trustees miss most. Under W. Va. Code 44D-8-813, the duty to inform and report, you must do the following:

Within a reasonable time after accepting, notify the current beneficiaries that you accepted, and give them your name, address, and telephone number.
Within a reasonable time after you learn the trust has become irrevocable, which happens at the grantor's death, notify the current beneficiaries of the trust's existence, the grantor's identity, and their right to a trustee's report.
On a beneficiary's request, furnish a copy of the trust instrument within a reasonable time.
Respond within a reasonable time to a beneficiary's request for information about the administration.

Read that timing carefully, because it is where West Virginia parts ways with some other states. West Virginia sets a "reasonable time" standard here, not a fixed 60-day deadline, and the notice runs to the "current beneficiaries," the people who now receive or may receive distributions. Send each notice in writing and keep a dated copy. That file is one of your best protections if a beneficiary later questions how you handled things.

Send the notices even when the beneficiaries are close family who already know the grantor died. The code sets the requirement, and a written notice heads off later arguments about what you told people and when.

Step 4: Gather and Value the Trust Assets

Under W. Va. Code 44D-8-809, you must take reasonable steps to take control of and protect the trust property. Under W. Va. Code 44D-8-812, you must take reasonable steps to compel a former trustee or other holder to deliver trust property, and to redress a breach of trust a prior trustee committed.

Build a full inventory of everything the trust owns:

Real estate, with a date-of-death appraisal for each parcel
Bank accounts and certificates of deposit
Investment and brokerage accounts
Retirement accounts or life insurance that name the trust as beneficiary
Business interests
Vehicles, jewelry, collectibles, and other personal property

Value each asset as of the date of death. Get professional appraisals for real estate, business interests, and high-value items. Accurate date-of-death values matter for taxes and for splitting assets fairly among beneficiaries.

Watch for Assets the Trust Does Not Own

A trust controls only what the grantor actually retitled into it. If the grantor signed a West Virginia will but never moved an account or a deed into the trust, that asset may still need probate. Many people pair a trust with a pour-over will that directs leftover assets into the trust, but those assets usually pass through the County Commission before they reach you. West Virginia also allows a small estate settlement by affidavit for a decedent whose probate personal property is $50,000 or less, under W. Va. Code 44-1A-2. Confirm the current threshold and which assets count with the Clerk of the County Commission or a licensed attorney.

Step 5: Manage the Assets With Care

While you administer the trust, you have a duty to manage its assets sensibly. Under W. Va. Code 44D-8-801, you must administer the trust and invest its assets in good faith, in line with its terms and purposes and the interests of the beneficiaries. Under W. Va. Code 44D-8-804, you must administer the trust as a prudent person would, using reasonable care, skill, and caution.

If the trust holds investments, the prudent investor rule at W. Va. Code 44-6C-1 sets the standard for how you invest and manage them.

You also owe a duty of loyalty under W. Va. Code 44D-8-802. You must administer the trust solely in the interests of the beneficiaries, not for your own gain. Self-dealing, such as buying trust property for yourself at a bargain, can be undone by an affected beneficiary. When in doubt, stay away from any transaction that mixes your own interest with the trust's.

You do not need to be a financial expert. You do need to act with judgment, keep records, and hire professional help for anything complex.

Step 6: Pay Debts, Final Bills, and Taxes

Before any beneficiary receives a distribution, settle what the trust owes:

Final medical bills, utilities, and other valid debts
The grantor's final personal income tax return (Form 1040) for the year of death
A fiduciary income tax return (federal Form 1041) if the trust earns enough income after death, plus the matching West Virginia fiduciary return
Any federal estate tax, which reaches only very large estates

West Virginia has no separate state inheritance tax, and it has no active estate tax beyond the old federal credit that federal law reduced to zero, so most trusts owe no West Virginia death tax. Confirm your situation with a CPA or the West Virginia Tax Division.

Do not rush distributions. If you pay out the trust and then find an unpaid debt or tax, you can be left personally responsible for the shortfall. Hold a reasonable reserve until you are confident all debts and taxes are covered. A CPA who handles trust returns earns the cost on anything but the simplest estate.

Step 7: Keep Beneficiaries Informed and Account

The duty to inform does not end with the first notice. Under W. Va. Code 44D-8-813, you must keep the current beneficiaries reasonably informed and send a report at least annually and when the trust ends. The report lists the trust property and liabilities, the receipts and disbursements, the source and amount of your compensation, and a listing of the trust assets with their market values when feasible.

A trust account stays private between you and the beneficiaries. You do not file it with the County Commission the way a probate estate files its accounting with the Fiduciary Supervisor.

Habits that keep you out of trouble:

Send a written report to beneficiaries on a regular schedule, not just at the end.
Keep every receipt, statement, and appraisal in an organized file.
Answer reasonable questions promptly and in writing.
Get a signed receipt from each beneficiary when you hand over a distribution.

What You Can Be Paid

Under W. Va. Code 44D-7-708, a trustee is entitled to reasonable compensation when the trust does not set a fee. If the trust does set your fee, you are paid as stated, though a court can adjust it when your duties differ greatly from what the trust expected or the stated amount is unreasonably high or low. Many family trustees waive a fee to leave more for the beneficiaries. If you do take a fee, disclose it in your report.

Step 8: Distribute and Close the Trust

Once debts and taxes are handled and the reserve is no longer needed, distribute the remaining assets:

Make specific gifts first, the items or dollar amounts left to named people.
Distribute the residue, what remains after specific gifts and expenses, to the residuary beneficiaries.
Keep any sub-trusts running if the document creates them, such as a trust for a minor or a beneficiary who should not receive a lump sum.

West Virginia sets out this closing step in W. Va. Code 44D-8-817. Once an event ends the trust, you wind up the administration and move without delay to distribute the property to the people entitled to it, while you hold back a reasonable reserve for debts, expenses, and taxes. That same section lets you send beneficiaries a written proposal for how you will distribute the trust. A beneficiary who receives the proposal and does not object within 60 days loses the right to object later, as long as the proposal told them about that right and the deadline.

To move real estate to a beneficiary, sign and record a trustee's deed with the Clerk of the County Commission in the county where the land sits. Get a signed receipt for every distribution. After the final report goes out and the last asset is distributed, the trust is settled. Beneficiaries who receive real property often sell it, so the selling inherited property guide and the step-up in basis guide cover the tax side of a later sale.

How This Fits Your Estate Plan

Trust administration is one piece of a larger plan, and it works best when the other pieces are in place. A West Virginia revocable living trust holds and passes assets without probate, but it does not cover health care or out-of-trust property by itself. A West Virginia financial power of attorney handles assets during life that the trust does not hold. A valid West Virginia will, often a pour-over will, catches anything left out of the trust. The West Virginia estate planning basics guide shows how these documents fit together.

If you would rather keep assets out of probate than administer an existing trust, the ways to avoid probate in West Virginia guide lays out the tools, including transfer on death deeds for real property.

Common Questions

Does a West Virginia trust go through the County Commission?

No. A funded revocable living trust settles privately under the West Virginia Uniform Trust Code (W. Va. Code Chapter 44D). There is no appraisement to file and no Fiduciary Supervisor reference. Only assets the grantor left outside the trust may need probate.

What notice must a West Virginia successor trustee give beneficiaries?

Under W. Va. Code 44D-8-813, within a reasonable time you notify the current beneficiaries of your acceptance and your contact details. After the trust becomes irrevocable at the grantor's death, you notify them of the trust's existence, the grantor's identity, and their right to a report. West Virginia uses a reasonable-time standard, not a fixed deadline.

Does West Virginia require a trustee to account to beneficiaries?

Yes. W. Va. Code 44D-8-813 directs you to send the current beneficiaries a report at least annually and when the trust ends. The report lists the trust property, liabilities, receipts, disbursements, the source and amount of your compensation, and the trust assets with their market values when feasible.

Can a successor trustee be paid in West Virginia?

Yes. Under W. Va. Code 44D-7-708, a trustee gets reasonable compensation when the trust is silent, and is paid the trust's stated fee otherwise, subject to a court adjustment when the amount is unreasonable. Many family trustees waive the fee.

When does a revocable trust become irrevocable?

At the grantor's death. Under W. Va. Code 44D-6-602 the grantor could revoke or amend the trust while living. That power ends at death, so you administer the trust under its existing terms.

West Virginia Probate Guide - the County Commission process for assets left outside the trust
West Virginia Executor Duties - the fiduciary task list for a probate estate
West Virginia Probate Accounting - how a probate estate accounts to the county
West Virginia Will Requirements - what makes a will, including a pour-over will, valid
How to Avoid Probate in West Virginia - trusts, TOD deeds, and other non-probate transfers
West Virginia Transfer on Death Deed - passing real property outside probate

This guide is general information about West Virginia trusts. It is not legal advice. Confirm anything that affects your situation with a licensed West Virginia attorney.

Sources:

Title: W. Va. Code 44D-6-602, Revocation or amendment of revocable trust. Publisher: West Virginia Legislature. Publication Date: Current official code, accessed July 20, 2026. URL: https://code.wvlegislature.gov/44D-6-602/
Title: W. Va. Code 44D-7-701, Accepting or declining trusteeship. Publisher: West Virginia Legislature. Publication Date: Current official code, accessed July 20, 2026. URL: https://code.wvlegislature.gov/44D-7-701/
Title: W. Va. Code 44D-7-708, Compensation of trustee. Publisher: West Virginia Legislature. Publication Date: Current official code, accessed July 20, 2026. URL: https://code.wvlegislature.gov/44D-7-708/
Title: W. Va. Code 44D-8-801, Duty to administer trust. Publisher: West Virginia Legislature. Publication Date: Current official code, accessed July 20, 2026. URL: https://code.wvlegislature.gov/44D-8-801/
Title: W. Va. Code 44D-8-802, Duty of loyalty. Publisher: West Virginia Legislature. Publication Date: Current official code, accessed July 20, 2026. URL: https://code.wvlegislature.gov/44D-8-802/
Title: W. Va. Code 44D-8-804, Prudent administration. Publisher: West Virginia Legislature. Publication Date: Current official code, accessed July 20, 2026. URL: https://code.wvlegislature.gov/44D-8-804/
Title: W. Va. Code 44D-8-809, Control and protection of trust property. Publisher: West Virginia Legislature. Publication Date: Current official code, accessed July 20, 2026. URL: https://code.wvlegislature.gov/44D-8-809/
Title: W. Va. Code 44D-8-812, Collecting trust property. Publisher: West Virginia Legislature. Publication Date: Current official code, accessed July 20, 2026. URL: https://code.wvlegislature.gov/44D-8-812/
Title: W. Va. Code 44D-8-813, Duty to inform and report. Publisher: West Virginia Legislature. Publication Date: Current official code, accessed July 20, 2026. URL: https://code.wvlegislature.gov/44D-8-813/
Title: W. Va. Code 44D-8-817, Distribution upon termination. Publisher: West Virginia Legislature. Publication Date: Current official code, accessed July 20, 2026. URL: https://code.wvlegislature.gov/44D-8-817/
Title: W. Va. Code 44-6C-1, Prudent investor rule. Publisher: West Virginia Legislature. Publication Date: Current official code, accessed July 20, 2026. URL: https://code.wvlegislature.gov/44-6C-1/
Title: W. Va. Code 44-1A-2, Administration of a small estate upon affidavit and without appointment. Publisher: West Virginia Legislature. Publication Date: Current official code, accessed July 20, 2026. URL: https://code.wvlegislature.gov/44-1A-2/

It is not legal advice.