Is it possible to have co-trustees?
If you’re the grantor and trustee of your revocable living trust, you may also appoint someone to serve as co-trustee with you. For example, you and your spouse could be co-trustees of your family trust or joint trust. You could also name your daughter as successor trustee to take over once you pass away.
Who are the co-trustees of a trust?
Unless the trust document states otherwise, all co-trustees have equal power and equal duties to the trust. Co-Trustees usually work in conjunction with, and with the approval of, the other co-trustees.
When do successor co-trustees take over a trust?
After one of those events, a successor trustee takes over the trust to manage and administer the trust assets. Some trust creators have two children or have two people they trust enough to make them successor co-trustees of their trust, which puts two people in charge of the trust simultaneously.
Can a co trustee sue another co trustee?
A co-trustee has the right to sue another co-trustee if she reasonably believes a breach has occurred. The co-trustee may file the lawsuit as an individual or as a representative of the trust. The particular circumstances of the breach will determine how to bring the lawsuit and in whose name to sue.
Can a co-trustee of a trust resign?
A trustee can always resign, but he or she will have to render an accounting of the trust to any successor trustee and safeguard the assets until a new successor trustee has been appointed. In summary, each co-trustee is responsible to take care of the trust property.
What does it mean to be a co trustee of a trust?
In addition, co-trustees must generally act cooperatively with each other, unless the trust explicitly grants certain duties to a single trustee. This means that each co-trustee must act with the full consent and knowledge of the other co-trustees.
Who are the successor co trustees of a trust?
I have reviewed many trusts that provided for multiple trustees serving together “co-trustees”. They will have language that states something like, “if at any time both grantors [trust-makers] are incapacitated or have died the successor co-trustees shall be “John Doe and Jane Doe”….”.
When to use co personal representatives or co trustees?
A client walks in who wants to create a trust or will and who has two (or more) children. When we get to the question of who will handle the business of a client’s will or trust, the client almost invariably says “I want all of my children to serve together as Co-Personal Representatives (or Co-Trustees or Co-Executors) of my estate.”
What happens if a co-trustee sits on the paperwork?
If a co-trustee sat on the paperwork, the buyer walked and the trust remained unfunded with cash to help pay the tuition for the beneficiaries, the beneficiaries could have a claim against the lazy co-trustee could be personally liable for all interest from a student loan that they had to get because the trust money was not available.