Who should be appointed trustee of my living trust?

A lot of times people will act as their own trustee over their living trust until such time as they either become incapable to do so or they die. Others may not want to act as the trustee over their own living trust because they don’t know how to handle their financial affairs or feel they are too inexperienced to do so. Deciding who should be appointed as the trustee of your living trust is one of the most important decision you can make.

The trustee of your living trust will be responsible for handling all of the the trust’s financial affairs on your behalf.  The will not, however, be directly supervised by a court. This person will be given the power and authority to make all the financial decisions if you cannot make these decisions.

Many times the person appointed as trustee of a living trust will be the spouse or an adult child of the person with the trust. Others might be domestic partners, another distant relative, a business partner or other professional fiduciary. If the person chosen were to be a financial fiduciary, they should by all practical purposes be a licensed professional or a bank and trust employee that is licensed by your state.  As well as naming trustees, you can also name co-trustees.

Once you have made your choice, you should discuss it with an experienced estate planning attorney because there are many things that need to be taken into consideration. In some cases the appointment of one adult child as trustee could create discord with the remaining siblings. You should  give careful consideration to  what type of conflicts may come about by appointing certain trustees.

The selection of a trustee is just one example of how consulting with an experienced estate planning attorney can help give you and your family peace of mind.  Contact Hassell and Hyatt today to receive our experienced insight on this and a host of other consideration for your estate plan.