Welcome to Legacy Logix Estate Settlement. This brief overview will help you set up your settlement vault, and explain when and how to use Legacy Logix as you work through the settlement process.
Note that you can always get extra help from our support team by clicking the chat icon on the bottom right corner of the product.
This article will show you how to:
1. Download the Settlement Checklist
2. Add Estate documents and assets to the Digital Vault
3. View, manage, invite stakeholders
4. View notifications in the Tasks panel
5. Track expenses and distributions
6. Work through Estate assets
7. Wrap up the settlement process
1. Download the Settlement Checklist
For a comprehensive breakdown of the settlement process, download this interactive task list. It covers the steps you need to consider as an Estate executor or trustee, supported by over 40 detailed articles on specific settlement topics.
On the Estate Insights page, navigate to the Settlement tab. You can download the checklist in either Excel or PDF format.
2. Add Estate documents and assets to the Digital Vault
Next, bring in documents and assets that are relevant to the Estate. This includes Estate plan documents such as the trust and will, financial accounts, insurance policies, death certificates, property titles, etc. Legacy Logix will analyze each item and incorporate it into your vault.
On the Digital Vault page, click on the Add to Vault button. Select the Figure it out for me option to simply drag and drop files - let Legacy Logix analyze and organize them for you. If you prefer to add items manually, you can navigate through the other content boxes as well.
You can also directly connect to financial accounts to track real time balances for every account held by the Estate. On the Add to Vault page, select Financial accounts.
Select Connect account:
Click the Add Account button and follow the prompts. Legacy Logix uses trusted data connectors to create a secure connection to the financial institution.
Viewing your vault content.
When data and assets are uploaded, Legacy Logix will analyze each item, extract important information (such as named stakeholders), then organize and summarize them inside the vault. You will get an alert when they have been processed (usually within 24 hours).
The Estate Summary page will give you an overview of the Estate.
Explore the Digital Vault page to view everything you have added. Click on any card to review each item and locate attached documents.
3. View, manage, and invite stakeholders
Navigate to the Stakeholder page to view the people and organizations Legacy Logix has identified in your uploaded documents. Each stakeholder has a contact card. Open the card to view their role and the documents they have been referenced in. Edit an individual stakeholder card to modify their contact information or give them access to the vault. You can also add any other stakeholders you want to keep track of, such as attorneys, real estate agents, banking contacts, etc.
4. View notifications in the Task panel
When processing your items, Legacy Logix identifies important details to bring to your attention as notifications in the task panel. Here’s an example:
5. Track expenses and distributions
You can keep track of paid and estimated expenses for the Estate. You can also add or estimate the distributions paid out to beneficiaries per the instructions in Estate plan. This is a good practice for Estate accounting, and also helps keep beneficiaries informed on what’s happening with the Estate, and what it means to them.
To do this, navigate to the Estate Insights page and select the Settlement tab. Click on the Add Expense or Add Distribution button to complete a new entry. Legacy Logix will record these transactions and adjust the Estate Net Worth accordingly.
NOTE: You will return to this screen to add/update expenses and distributions as you move through the process.
6. Work through Estate assets
(as discussed in sections 6-9 of the Settlement Checklist)
During the settlement process you will enter a phase in which you're converting assets to cash for future distribution, or transferring assets (such as an automobile) to beneficiaries. This is one of the most time-consuming phases, as you may need to work with multiple organizations such as banks, real estate brokers, etc.
There are several things you can do in Legacy Logix to help work through this phase:
Any document you receive related to an asset (e.g. a bill of sale) should be added to your vault (see Step 2 above).
You may also be uploading document or connecting accounts for new assets, such as a new bank account that you will use to deposit monies from sold assets or closed accounts.
As you get new or final information on the value of an asset, you can update the value of that item in your vault. Navigate to the Digital Vault page, select the item in question, modify the value as appropriate, and select Save on the top right of the page.
7. Wrap up the settlement process
(as discussed in sections 10-11 of the Settlement Checklist)
Record the final expenses and distributions to close out the process. This will likely include taxes filed for the Estate. (Note that many executors/trustees will hold back funds to pay taxes and to cover unexpected expenses).
To wrap up the process:
Upload tax documents from your accountant, as you did in Step 2.
Update Estate asset values/balances by editing the item in the Digital Vault.
Update the Estate distribution values in the Settlements tab of the Estate Insights page.
The final objective is to zero out the remaining Estate balance, with the Estate Net worth paid out in its entirety via distributions and expenses:
