The “Responsible Child” Isn’t Always the Right Trustee

When parents are choosing a trustee, there’s often one child who seems like the obvious choice. That’s the organized one, the financially responsible one, and the one who gets things done. But being capable of serving as trustee and being the right person to serve as trustee are two different things.

A trustee has to manage investments, keep records, handle tax matters, interpret the terms of the trust, decide whether to make distributions, and sometimes tell a sibling “no.” These responsibilities can turn a job that sounded like an honor into a significant commitment of time and mental energy. And when the trustee is also a sibling, those decisions can affect family relationships long after the trust administration is over.

In this short video, I share a preview of my conversation with my longtime friend Alex Fisher, a Trust Advisor at Regions Bank, about what trustees actually do behind the scenes, and why choosing a trustee deserves more thought than simply asking, “Which of my kids is the most responsible?”