This article came to my attention this morning:
The unfortunate victim of the fraud was told by the suspect that she was with his trust's administration firm, when she was not. This resulted in him being defrauded for a great deal of money and assets. Fortunately there is not any apparent wrongdoing by the firm managing the man's trust.
It is important to remember to pick trustees wisely and even more important to know who they are. Meaning that you should be wary of picking "XYZ Trust Corporation" to handle the administration of your trust for the beneficiaries. You don't always know who is behind the scenes filling out forms, checking boxes, and signing documents.
Remember, you have control over your assets and wealth planning. You can choose your trustees, you can choose the successor trustees if your first pick cannot or will not serve, you can choose whether there needs to be trustee removal terms built in to the trust, and you can limit trustee powers. All of these things can be tailored to your exact wants.
Fraud like the case in Louisiana unfortunately does happen, but you can balance your risk through thoughtful planning on who will be your trustee. Hopefully the victim here will be made whole, and the real trust administration firm will not be tarnished as a result of this crime.