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Reliable and Experienced Trustee and Guardian of the Estate

Finding the right professional to properly manage and invest your estate is a vital decision. The roles of a trustee and guardian are important to ensure the future of your family and your properties. You have to make sure that the person or organization that you will hire has the sufficient skills and experience as well as the right temperament to make excellent decisions.

Rick Ybarra is based in Texas and is an experienced private fiduciary that accepts appointments as Trustee of various types of trusts (including Special Needs Trusts) and as Guardian of the Estate for incapacitated individuals. He has served as a Trust Officer for more than a decade and as a certified professional Guardian since 2012. In these capacities, Mr. Ybarra has managed Trusts and/or Guardianship Estates that own the following assets:

  • Cash

  • Residential real estate

  • Securities (stocks, bonds, mutual funds, ETFs)

  • Oil & Gas mineral interests

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  • Mortgage notes receivable

  • Artwork

  • Vehicles

  • Cash

  • Residential real estate

  • Securities (stocks, bonds, mutual funds, ETFs)

  • Oil & Gas mineral interests

Many banks and other corporate Trustees are reluctant to accept appointment as Trustee for trusts that have less than $500,000.00 in assets. Also, many of those companies centralize trust administration of trusts less than $3.0 million in call center office environments where the clients (beneficiaries) aren’t able to meet face-to-face with their assigned officer. Additionally, most financial institutions will decline to accept a Court appointment to serve as Guardian of the Estate for an incapacitated individual. Unlike many banks and corporate Trustees, Mr. Ybarra gladly accepts appointments as Trustee—including Special Needs Trusts—or Guardian of the Estate from several Courts in Texas and he regularly submits various reports to the Courts.

Services of Rick Ybarra

As a Trustee

As a trustee, Mr. Ybarra routinely performs the following activities:

  • Makes distributions to, or for, beneficiaries including paying vendors directly for bills incurred by the beneficiaries
  • Files federal income tax returns (that were prepared by CPAs) with the IRS, pays any tax liabilities that are owed and provides beneficiaries with their own tax reporting documents (Form K-1)
  • Hires investment professionals that invest trust assets in the financial markets and reviews those financial holdings with the hired experts
  • Interacts with oil & gas companies that extract these resources from land whose mineral interests are owned by trusts
  • Maintains frequent communication with trust beneficiaries
  • Reviews oil & gas division orders and processes payments received for extraction of minerals (oil & gas)
  • Maintains frequent communication with attorneys, including Mr. Ybarra’s attorney who is Board Certified (by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization) in Estate Planning & Probate Law
  • Negotiates the purchase and sale of real estate that is owned by trusts and pays property taxes on trust-owned real estate

As a Guardian of the Estate

As guardian of the estate, Mr. Ybarra performs the following actions:

  • Files all annual reports and other required documentation with the appropriate court that presides over each Guardianship
  • Makes distributions directly to vendors, including nursing homes, case management social workers, physicians, pharmacies, etc.
  • Files federal income tax returns (that were prepared by CPAs) with the IRS, and pays any tax liabilities that are owed
  • Works closely with the Guardian of the Person (if one is appointed) to ensure that the personal & medical needs of the person under Guardianship are provided

Why a Professional—Instead of a Family Member—Should be Appointed as Trustee OR Guardian of the Estate Should be Appointed:

Well-meaning family members sometimes think that they should serve as Trustee or as Guardian of the Estate for their loved one(s). Often, if a Court is involved, the Court may determine that a family member may not qualify to be appointed to serve so a professional fiduciary is named. For those family members that do qualify to serve as a Trustee or Guardian of the Estate, many find that the responsibilities (managing assets, filing tax returns, dealing with attorneys and accountants, paying bills, filing reports with Courts, etc.) may be too daunting and may regret accepting the appointment. For reasons such as these, Mr. Ybarra serves as a private fiduciary so that family members can focus on maintaining a wonderful relationship with their relatives.

Why Choose Rick Ybarra

Mr. Ybarra has more than 15 years of professional fiduciary experience and he earned the prestigious Certified Trust and Financial Advisor (CTFA) designation. He has been appointed Trustee or Guardian of the Estate by Courts in at least 5 different counties in Texas. Mr. Ybarra serves as Trustee for many smaller trusts—including Special Needs Trusts—that corporate Trustees won’t accept. His work style is nimble enough to regularly meet with clients face-to-face and communicate with them via most forms of communication (telephone, text message, email, social media, etc.) to ensure proper administration of Trusts and Guardianship Estates. Although he is based in Austin, Texas, Mr. Ybarra has clients in other states including Nevada, Florida and Illinois.

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