Most Wills will appoint executors which we covered in the last video (if you missed it go here), but executors will generally go on to become trustees.
The role of a trustee is really to manage the money of your estate. If there are young children who are inheriting at 18 or older, that money is going to have to be managed for them. If there is property going into trust to protect it from Local Authority interference, or sideways disinheritance, then you are going to need trustees to manage those properties for your children.
The trustee’s role is very important, somebody who, from the very nature of the word, you trust! It really should be someone who is younger than you by a generation down, but if you are young yourself, you can appoint siblings. Whoever you choose will be responsible for making financial decisions for your children going forward until your children are of age to make those decisions for themselves. Trustees have a responsibility to make sure any assets are managed properly and they have to account for their actions to the children when the children come of age. So when your child or children get to 21 or 25, your trustees are going to have to provide a report on all the actions taken on their behalf. Hopefully they have grown any investments to the benefit of the children.
I cannot stress how important it is to pick the right person or people for the role of Trustee. If you want to know more or have any questions, please get in touch.
