Every Trust Needs a Trustee.

One of the components of a valid Trust is having trustees. The trustee is the person who is managing the assets in the Trust.

If you are alive and well, the trustee of your Living Trust is often the person who has created the trust. So normally a person creates a Living Trust and acts as trustee for their own trust until they are unable to act either by reason of death or incapacity.

Then the successor trustees named in the Trust will step up and manage the assets in the Trust according to the Trust document.

Most people tend to nominate their loved ones to act as trustee.  Here are 7 things to consider when naming a loved one to act as trustee:

    1.     Does your loved one have time to commit to fulfilling the many duties of being a trustee?

    2.     Does your loved one have the knowledge and information necessary to manage the assets in your Trust?

    3.    Are there any terms of your Trust that could present a conflict of interest to your potential trustee?

    4.    Do you have conflicts in your family that could present problems for the trustee?

    5.    Does your Trust hold assets that may force the trustee to make difficult decisions like dealing with a family-owned business?

    6.    Is the cost of a professional trustee a consideration?

    7.    Is the loved one also a beneficiary of the Trust?

These are the kinds of questions you should ask yourself when deciding on who should be trustee. You can also discuss these questions and issues with your estate planning attorney.

Comments

[Paul]

How do you discover a living trust after death when you know it has not been revoked?

It is difficult in a corrupt probate court.

It is very subject to abuse on the vulnerable mentally disabled. I have a copy of a dandy trust document which I was not expected to get.

Paul