In Establishing a Living Trust, Should We Designate Our Children as Successor Co-Trustees?

Standard Legal has drafted its Living Trusts so that the children of the maker(s) of the Trust, who are presumed to be the ultimate beneficiaries of the Trust in most instances, are not named as Trustees or Successor Co-Trustees.

That may seem contradictory to many families since the primary reason a Trust has been considered is to provide protected assets to a family’s heirs, but this limitation in structure is based in sound logic.

Being both a potential beneficiary and a Trustee could cause a potential conflict of interest in the management of the Trust, a situation that may be wise to avoid.

See Standard Legal’s Living Trust legal forms software for a common, recommended way of properly structuring a Trust to avoid this conflict.