Arguably, choosing the right trustee to manage your trust is as important as naming the most appropriate beneficiaries to inherit its assets. Simply put, the wrong trustee may prevent your trust document and overall estate plan from being executed properly. With this in mind, please read on to discover who is supposed to be the right trustee for your trust and how a seasoned Broward County trust lawyer at The Probate Lawyers can help you make this determination.
How am I supposed to know who is the right trustee for my trust?
If you can take anything away from this blog, it should be that someone close to you is not necessarily someone who should serve as the trustee of your trust. For example, you may love your child dearly and know in your heart of hearts that the feeling is mutual. But they should not be the person you entrust with this responsibility if they have a track record of poor money management. Even more so, they cannot be your trustee if they are under the age of 18, and you still expect them to be of a minor age at the time of your unfortunate passing. Lastly, if you want them to be the beneficiary of your trust’s assets, they cannot simultaneously be its trustee.
With that being said, if you cannot identify any individual in your life who would check all the marks for an ideal trustee, you may appoint a financial institution to this position. Notably, banks and trust companies are well-suited to handle your trust and all the financial tasks that come with it (i.e., filing taxes, managing investments, saving accounting records, etc).
What do I have to do if I want to change the trustee of my trust?
Say, for instance, that you do manage to designate a close individual of yours as the trustee of your trust. Well, then say that extenuating circumstances get in the way that prevents them from executing their duties any further (i.e., they become untrustworthy, they become mentally incapacitated, they sadly pass away, etc). In a case like this, you must quickly change your trustee designation within your trust document.
To do this, you may have to create what is called a trust amendment. This amendment should specify the new trustee you wish to take over your trust management. Or, you may have to go as far as petitioning the Florida Surrogate’s Court to dismiss your original trustee and name a new one. This may be necessary if your trust document is particularly complex and does not explicitly outline the process for the removal and replacement of a trustee. Or, if there are disputes amongst your named beneficiaries over your desire to switch out trustees.
To learn more about how to handle trustee designations, please get in touch with a competent Broward County estate lawyer from The Probate Lawyers. Better yet, schedule your free initial consultation with our firm today.
