What Does a Trustee Do?

At first glance, it’s simple: a trust manager (or trustee, in legal terms) manages assets that you put in trust. But what does that actually mean? Who is this person? What do they actually have to do? And is it the same thing as being a guardian? Let’s get into it.

The four primary duties of a trustee in California are:

Managing the trust

The trustee’s main job is to manage and ideally increase the assets left in trust, so the beneficiaries can get the most out of the trust. This can include making financial decisions about stocks or similar financial assets, or making sure that any property left in trust is maintained so it can be sold at as great a profit as possible.

Handling paperwork and taxes

Along those same lines, the trustee is also legally responsible for handling a fair amount of paperwork, including an inventory and appraisal of assets, notifying any beneficiaries of the death, retitling assets, and paying taxes on the trust.

Making disbursements

The trustee is also responsible for making any disbursements noted in the trust. Sometimes this is straightforward — the person who made the trust might have simply wanted everything to be liquidated and then the cash from that sale divided equally among beneficiaries — but it can get far more complicated.

A lot of times people set up trusts to hold assets for some time before disbursing them to their children, or they may choose to hold their assets in trust for a charity rather than their family, meaning that the trustee has to navigate those wishes.

Communicating with beneficiaries and other parties

Most people overlook this element of managing a trust, but it’s so important. The trustee is put in a position where they have to communicate well and be able to manage any emotional hurdles that come up from beneficiaries or complicated family dynamics. They also need to be in communication with a financial advisor to ensure that they’re making the best decisions for the trust.

And, if there is a guardian designated for minor children, the trustee will need to be in regular communication with them to make disbursements and ensure that the guardian has everything they need to fulfill their duties. It is possible to designate the same person as both trustee and guardian, but there are pros and cons to doing that. Find out more about how to select a guardian here, so you can decide whether your guardian should be the same person as your trustee.

Being a trustee is a lot of work — but a well-designed trust makes it so much easier.

While there’s nothing you can do about the legal requirements for trustees, you can make your trustee’s job far easier by providing them with a well-designed trust with clear instructions.

That’s why we create each Duet trust to be as accessible as possible, with an easy-to-read trust flowchart that lets you instantly visualize the assets in the trust, as well as a Trustee Playbook and Legacy Statement, so your trustee can quickly understand both their legal duties and your wishes.

We would love to help you create a trust to protect your lasting voice. Find out more about how we can help here.