A trustee is an individual or business performing a fiduciary duty of managing a trust. When you are trusting someone with your assets you create a “Trust”. The overseer of those assets is the trustee. Trustees administer assets or property for the benefits of another. They can be an individual, administrative business trustee, bank or they can be a combination of them. Choosing a trustee is critically important because they control everything. The trust document outlines what the trustee can or cannot do. Sometimes a trust will provide for discretionary distributions, the trustee use their own judgments to how much money can be distributed to a beneficiary. You want a collaborative trustee.
When do I need a Trustee to perform Trustee Services?
Anytime a trust is created you must have a trustee. When choosing a trustee, you have three different options, an individual, an administrative corporate trustee, or a bank trust company. Each option has different types of advantages and disadvantages to serve you and manage your trust assets. Understand that you have choices and control over the trustee fees you are charged and the trustees you choose you use.
A trustee has a huge responsibility to execute their fiduciary duty to care for the assets of a trust for the benefit of the beneficiaries. It is important for any trustee to understand that these are not their assets.