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Co-Trustee

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lorenzo45

Junior Member
Washington

The original trustee of an AB type trust wants to name me as co-trustee (of both the revocable A and irrevocable B trust) to enable me to help with the administration of the trust. We both would be able to act independently of the other. If I am named co-trustee, how are the assets (accounts, property deeds, etc) titled? Must both our names be included or just the original trustee? If my name is included, how do the financial institutions know that I am not the "owner" ( for tax purposes, sending account statements, etc) but am serving only as the trustee.

Thanks.
 


TrustUser

Senior Member
you can actually handle that in the way that you choose.

you can choose to put both your names on an asset, or just one of your names. it all depends on who you want to be managing each particular asset.

on real property, the people titled on it will need to sign documents, etc. so if it is titled as just john smith, trustee of abc trust, then john smith alone signs all documents regarding that asset. if it is titled john smith and paul jones, trustee of abc trust, then both people would need to sign documents regarding that asset.

regarding bank accounts and brokerage accounts, the best thing to do is go to each institution, and explain to them what you want to do. banks want a trustee and a successor trustee listed on the actual account. if you want both people to be able to withdraw and deposit funds, you need to let the bank know. i would think that both of your names would need to be on as trustee, in that case.

the first thing you need to do is figure out how you two want to manage things.
 

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