What Is an Estate Planning Trustee?

You’ve heard the term trustee bandied about when it comes to estate planning, but you may not have any idea about what that means. The basic parties to an estate planning trust include the person whose trust it is (known officially as the settlor, the donor, or the grantor), the beneficiaries who will receive the benefits of the trust, and the trustee who acts as the middleman or the go-between in the matter. Estate planning needn’t be overly complicated, and an experienced North Carolina estate planning attorney can help get you up to speed with your estate planning needs.

The Trustee

The estate’s trustee is the person – or people – who accept the important responsibility of receiving the assets in the estate and holding them for the beneficiaries involved. A trustee takes on an important role in estate planning that includes many critical responsibilities, such as the following:

• The duty of being fiscally prudent, including with respect to investing the trust’s assets
• The duty of carefully adhering to the terms laid out in the trust
• The duty of being true to the trust and of administering it with the sole intention of benefiting the beneficiaries therein
• The duty of personally attending to the affairs contained in the trust
• The duty of regularly providing the beneficiaries with an accurate accounting of the trust

When another Appointee Is Needed

If your chosen trustee is unable – or unwilling – to serve as a reliable trustee when the time comes, the court will appoint someone else as trustee, and he or she (or they) will carry out the trust’s terms. In other words, even if the assigned trustee isn’t up to the task of carrying out the terms of a trust for any reason, the trust itself will not fail.

Your Trust and Your Trustee Are Important

Your trust provides you with a tool to provide for your family upon your passing. Not only does your trust ensure that your affairs will be taken care of according to your wishes but also helps ensure that the matter will be taken care of effectively and efficiently, thus saving your beneficiaries the frustrations and expense of probate. Your trustee plays an important role of ensuring that your wishes are properly implemented once your trust goes into effect, and this is obviously a critical role that deserves careful attention. You may know exactly whom you want to fill these important shoes, but if you aren’t sure, your estate planning attorney can help you make a decision that is right for you.

Reach Out to an Experienced North Carolina Estate Planning Attorney Today

Discuss your estate planning concerns, including questions related to your estate’s trustee, with the dedicated estate planning attorneys at King Law Firm in North Carolina. Our experienced legal team has the knowledge, skill, and level of concern to help you navigate the path toward establishing an estate plan that supports your unique needs. Now is a good time to begin – or to modify – your estate plan, so please don’t hesitate to contact or give us a call today.