Pick the person who files their taxes on time and answers email. Not the oldest child, not the one whose feelings will be hurt, and not the one who is good in a crisis but disorganized in a spreadsheet.
This is an administrative job with legal duties attached, and the traits that make someone a good trustee have very little to do with how much you love them.
The actual job description
- Order death certificates and locate the trust, the deeds, and the account statements.
- Send the notice required of a California trustee to beneficiaries and heirs, which starts a 120-day window for contests.
- Get date-of-death appraisals so the stepped-up basis is documented.
- Pay the final bills, the last income tax return, and the property taxes that keep coming regardless.
- Keep records, account to the beneficiaries, and distribute what is left.
For a single house and a few accounts, that is a few months of part-time work. For a rental portfolio or a family business, it is considerably more.
Co-trustees, and why I usually push back
Naming two children as co-trustees feels fair. It often is not workable. Every bank form needs two signatures, every decision needs agreement, and if they deadlock the only tiebreaker is a judge.
If your children genuinely work well together, co-trustees can be fine. If you are naming both because you cannot bear to choose, name one as trustee and give the other a different role, like a right to receive the accountings.
Ask the person first
A successor trustee can decline, and they do. If your named trustee resigns and your backup has died, your family may end up in court petitioning for a replacement. One phone call now prevents that.
When a professional makes sense
Blended families where the children of one marriage will be watching the trustee from the other. Beneficiaries with substance abuse issues or creditors. Estates with a business that has to keep running. Situations where you already know someone will fight.
Private professional fiduciaries in California are licensed and charge hourly or by a percentage. It is not cheap. It is much cheaper than a two-year trust contest between siblings.
“I've had clients name the child who lives closest, purely for convenience. Geography matters less than it used to. Everything except signing at a title company can be done remotely now.”
Delia Vasquez-HartWhat to write down for them
- Where the original trust document is, physically.
- A list of accounts and institutions, updated when things change.
- Your CPA's name and phone number.
- The name of the attorney who drafted the trust, and permission to call them.
Questions we get asked
Can my trustee also be a beneficiary?
Yes, and usually is. A child who inherits half the estate and administers it is the ordinary case. Their duty to the other beneficiaries is what keeps it honest.
Do trustees get paid?
They are entitled to reasonable compensation unless your trust says otherwise. Family members often waive it, especially when they are inheriting anyway, because the fee is taxable income and their inheritance is not.
Can I name a bank?
You can, though most corporate trustees have account minimums well above a typical Los Angeles homeowner's estate. A licensed private fiduciary is the more realistic option at that size.
How many backups should I name?
Two, at minimum. People move, get sick, and decline. A trust with a single named successor and no alternate is one funeral away from a court petition.
Before your signing appointment, write down three names in order and confirm with each of them that they are willing. Bring that list to the meeting and we will build the succession language around it.