What Is a Successor Trustee? (And How to Pick the Right One)

If you have a living trust (a.k.a. a revocable trust, revocable living trust, intervivos trust, etc.), or if you are about to set one up, you have probably been asked about who you’d want to be your successor trustee. The name sounds bureaucratic and the role sounds optional. Neither of those impressions is correct.

Your successor trustee is the person who will actually run your trust when you can no longer do so yourself, whether because you have become incapacitated or because you have died. Choosing the right one is one of the most consequential decisions in your estate plan, and choosing badly can cause more problems than not having a trust at all.

In this article, I’m going to unpack what the role actually is, what the law says about it in Texas, and how to think about who should fill it.

A trustee is the person (or institution) who holds legal title to trust property and manages it for the benefit of the trust’s beneficiaries – i.e., the trustee holds legal title, but not beneficial title. When you create a revocable living trust, you almost always name yourself as the initial trustee, meaning you continue to control your assets exactly as you did before, just with the trust as the technical owner.

The successor trustee is the person who steps into your shoes under certain circumstances specified in the trust (generally death or incapacity). From that point forward, the successor trustee has the rights, powers, authority, discretion, and title to trust property that you previously had.

In practice, your successor trustee is the person who will:

• Manage trust investments and pay your bills if you become incapacitated
• Identify, gather, and value the trust assets after your death
• Pay your final debts, expenses, and taxes from the trust
• File the trust’s tax returns (yes, the trust gets its own EIN and files its own returns once you are gone!)
• Distribute the assets to the beneficiaries according to the terms of the trust
• Keep records, communicate with beneficiaries, and avoid conflicts of interest

That is a real job. It can take months for a simple trust and years for a complicated one.

This is one of the most common points of confusion.

An executor is the person named in your will to administer your probate estate. That is, assets in your name that must pass to your heirs through probate.

A successor trustee is the person named in your trust to administer your trust. That is, assets in the trust’s name that must pass to the named beneficiaries by the terms of the trust.

The two roles can be filled by the same person, and often are. But they are governed by different documents, derive their authority from different sources, and operate under different rules. An executor’s authority comes from a court issuing letters testamentary, whereas a successor trustee’s authority comes from the trust itself, with no court involvement required. That is one of the central reasons trusts can avoid probate in the first place.

For a typical estate plan where most of your assets are titled in the trust and your will is just a “pourover will” – i.e., a backup – your successor trustee will be doing most (perhaps all!) of the heavy lifting. Your executor’s role may be limited to handling the few stragglers (if any) that ended up outside the trust.

The Texas Trust Code (Property Code Chapter 113) imposes a very real set of fiduciary obligations on trustees, and those obligations apply to your successor as soon as they accept the role. The general duty under § 113.051 is to “administer the trust in good faith according to its terms and this subtitle.” Beneath that umbrella sit the more specific duties (which are all related):

• The duty of loyalty
• The duty of impartiality among beneficiaries
• The duty to keep accurate records and provide accountings on request
• The duty to invest prudently
• The duty to keep trust property separate from personal property
• The duty of full disclosure to beneficiaries about material facts

These are not abstract obligations. A trustee who breaches them can be personally liable to the beneficiaries. “Personally liable” means out of the trustee’s own pocket, not out of the trust. (I wrote a longer piece on the critical role of a fiduciary that goes deeper into what these obligations actually look like in practice.)

Here is something many people do not realize about trusts: nobody is forced to be a trustee. Texas Property Code § 112.009 lets a named trustee decline the role. Your successor accepts the position by signing a written acceptance, by exercising trust powers, or by performing trust duties. But they can also reject it, and critically they will not be liable to anyone if they do.

In other words, if someone chooses you as a successor trustee but you’re concerned about the amount of work it involves (potentially a lot) and the liability it involves (also potentially a lot) and the court headaches it entails (yet again potentially a lot), you can say “No Thanks!” and walk away.

This matters to you as the potential trustee because you can breathe a sigh of relief – nobody’s forcing you to be a trustee.

This matters to you as the potential trustor (person creating the trust) because there’s no guarantee your successor trustee will be alive, able to serve, or willing to serve. Therefore, it’s important to always name a backup, a backup to the backup, a backup to the backup to the backup, etc. Without a named successor, an interested party has to petition the court to appoint one, which adds delay and expense, exactly the things a trust is supposed to avoid.

Here is the actual question most clients are wrestling with. There is no formula, but there are useful criteria.

Do they have the basic competencies? The successor trustee does not need to be a financial wizard, but they do need to be organized, financially literate, and capable of seeking professional help when they are out of their depth. The willingness to hire (and listen to!) a CPA or an estate planning lawyer when needed is much more important than personal expertise.

Are they trustworthy? This sounds tautological, but it is worth saying out loud. The trustee will be handling significant amounts of money in a setting where, if they are inclined to misappropriate, it will be a long time before anyone notices, and remedies can involve significant legal fees. Choose accordingly.

Will they actually do it? A trustee who lives across the country, runs their own business, has young children, and travels constantly may technically be capable but practically unavailable. Ask whether the person you have in mind has the bandwidth to be a trustee.

What is the family dynamic? Naming one of your children as trustee over a trust that benefits all your children is a recipe for friction unless your kids genuinely get along. The favored sibling becomes the cash dispenser; the other siblings become the petitioners. This is not always wrong (often one child is clearly the right choice and the other children won’t mind the dynamic), but it deserves thought.

Should you consider a professional trustee? For larger trusts, complicated assets, or families where conflict is likely, a corporate trustee (a bank trust department or a private trust company) can be the right answer. They charge fees (generally high fees), but they are experienced, they are insured, they are neutral, and they will not get into a Christmas dinner fight with your beneficiaries. For smaller, simpler trusts, the cost is usually not worth it. For a large, complicated trust involving much potential litigation and/or acrimony, on the other hand, a corporate trustee could be a lifesaver.

What about co-trustees? You can name two people to serve together. However, keep in mind that this may create additional work and delays, as you’re chasing two signatures instead of one.

When you name a successor trustee, tell them. Surprises are bad. Make sure they know where the trust document is, who the beneficiaries are, and who your professionals (lawyer, CPA, financial advisor) are.

Name a backup. Always. Preferably multiple backups.

Revisit the choice every few years. The brother-in-law who was a perfect successor trustee in 2018 may not be the right person in 2026 if his life has changed.

Consider whether to waive the trustee’s bond requirement (most trusts do, but it is a deliberate choice).

Think about removal. Modern trust drafting often includes a mechanism for the beneficiaries to remove a trustee under certain circumstances, typically with a requirement that the replacement be a corporate or otherwise qualified trustee. Without that mechanism, removing a successor trustee can be slow, fractious, and expensive.

The successor trustee is the person who will carry out the trust instructions. Choosing the wrong one can mean delays, tax mistakes, family disputes, or in the worst cases, lost or misappropriated assets. Choosing the right successor trustee is one of the highest-leverage decisions you can make in an estate plan.

If you have a trust and you have not thought carefully about your successor, or if you are setting one up and you are stuck on this question, feel free to give us a call. The conversation is usually shorter and more productive than people expect.