Should I name more than one child to serve as Successor Trustee of my Trust?

Jan 31

This is a common question among my older clients who have multiple adult children and just aren’t sure what the right approach is when it comes to structuring their trustee succession plan.

Whenever this conversation occurs, I tell my clients 3 things:

One trustee makes things simpler and easier for the family. If you have only one child serving as trustee, things are usually much easier from an administrative standpoint, because when there is only one decision maker or signer, there’s less coordination and back and forth needed when completing paperwork associated with the trust.

Independent vs. Joint Authority. If you want to name two children as co-trustees, do you want them to be able to act jointly or independently. When they go to the bank or when they try to sell an asset, do they both need to be there? Are you naming a second co-trustee because you don’t want to hurt someone's feelings (often the case when the oldest child isn’t the first choice for the client) or is it a matter of trust or competency? Once again, if you name two or more co-trustees, having them be able to act independently makes things easier for your family, but if you are naming co-trustees as a check and balance then you’ll want to require joint decision making (or by majority if more than two co-trustees are serving simultaneously).

Conflict of interest. Depending on how your trust is structured it may be inappropriate or not feasible to name certain children as co-trustees of the trust or subtrusts created under the trust document. If your trust is structured as an asset protection trust or has continuing subtrusts established to protect against divorce or other creditor risks, then it may be best to have the non-conflicted child serve as trustee. Another option would be to appoint an independent co-trustee or trust protector - which is a much more complex conversation that you will need to discuss with your estate planning attorney.

Generally, I recommend choosing one trustee at a time when feasible because I find it allows for a simpler and more efficient trust administrative process. One decision maker can act more quickly and decisively if and when administrative obstacles arise, and if that trustee ever feels overwhelmed, then they can always delegate tasks to your accountants, attorneys, or other advisors - or they could appoint a co-trustee if they really felt it was in the best interest of the family to do so at that time.

With that being said, if you do want co-trustee for the check and balance approach, then you should have specific provisions in place for what happens if they disagree over how to act on a certain matter. This is where trust protectors, tie-breakers, or other mediation provisions are essential to maintaining family harmony and fulfilling your wishes in a time and cost efficient manner.