Why You Should Consider Multiple Successor Trustees

It's not uncommon for people with revocable living trusts to name a family member – like their spouse or their oldest child – as their successor trustee. The successor trustee is the person who will take over all the administrative duties for your trust if you become incapacitated or die.

But is one successor trustee enough? Probably not. It's better to create a little redundancy in your plans, just in case the first trustee isn't able to step up when the time comes. Let's look at two reasons this could happen.

You could both be injured or die in a common accident

Maybe your spouse is your first and only choice for your successor trustee – but you end up in a car crash together when you're on the way home from vacation. Imagine what sort of chaos could happen if you were killed and your spouse was incapacitated.