How to Pick a Trustee Who Won't Let You Down

Choose the right trustee for your trust by evaluating trustworthiness, availability, skills, and potential conflicts of interest.

  1. Start with trustworthiness and availability. Your trustee will control significant assets and make decisions that affect beneficiaries for years. Choose someone with unquestioned integrity who won't disappear, move across the country, or become unavailable. Consider their age, health, and life stability — a trustee 20+ years younger than you is more likely to outlive the trust's duration.
  2. Assess their financial and administrative skills. Trustees must manage investments, file tax returns, keep detailed records, and communicate with beneficiaries. Look for someone comfortable with basic financial concepts and paperwork. They don't need to be investment experts — they can hire professionals — but they should understand enough to oversee those hired experts and ask good questions.
  3. Check for conflicts of interest. Avoid trustees who benefit significantly from the trust or have complicated relationships with beneficiaries. A trustee who's also a major beneficiary faces inherent conflicts. Similarly, someone going through a messy divorce or financial troubles might not make objective decisions about trust assets.
  4. Consider professional vs. family trustees. Family members know your wishes and care about beneficiaries, but may lack skills or objectivity. Professional trustees (banks, trust companies) have expertise and neutrality but charge 0.5-1.5% annually and may feel impersonal. Many people choose a family member as primary trustee with a professional successor, or use co-trustees combining both approaches.
  5. Name successor trustees. Always designate 2-3 successor trustees in case your first choice can't serve. List them in order of preference and include both individual and institutional options. This prevents courts from appointing someone you wouldn't have chosen if your primary trustee dies, becomes incapacitated, or resigns.
  6. Have the conversation before naming them. Ask potential trustees if they're willing to serve before putting their names in legal documents. Explain what the role involves, including time commitments and potential liability. Many people decline when they understand the responsibility, and it's better to know now than during a family crisis.