One thing that you may want to do when making your estate plan is to put some of your assets into a trust. If you do this, you also get to choose a trustee who manages it for you.
For instance, maybe you have some real estate property that you want to pass on to your children, but you would rather put it into a trust instead of giving it to them directly. Or maybe you’re concerned about how one of your heirs would use financial assets, so you want to put them into a trust and give the trustee the ability to make those decisions.
No matter why you’re doing it, you need to be able to find the right trustee. What you do look for?
Qualities to consider in a trustee
Everyone has to make this decision on their own, so it’s a personal choice. But here are a few qualities that it is wise to consider:
- They need to be someone who is intellectually capable of handling the trust. They must understand their role and the financial implications.
- They need to be someone who is trustworthy. You don’t want them to abuse their position or keep the money from your heirs.
- They need to be someone who has a similar outlook to you. This is most important if you set up a discretionary trust that allows your trustee to make the decisions. You need to make sure that it’s someone who will make the same decisions you would.
Once you find the right person, then you can take the time to create the trust and look into the legal steps that are necessary.
