Hi I’m Wes Coulson, and this is your Estate Planning Minute.
One of the questions that we get frequently for people for whom we establish trusts is whether they should name a family member as trustee or a corporate trustee like a bank or a trust company. My quick answer is that it depends, and here are the considerations. First, since you are going to have to pay the bank or the trust company, if it’s going to be a little bit of assets, relatively simple administration, it’s probably a something a family member can do, as long as you have one who is experienced in handling financial matters. The more money you have involved, the more there is at stake, and if you’re going to have a family member who may not handle things well, that may end up being more expensive, than paying a corporate trustee to do it right. Again, it’s something you’ll want to talk about.
