What's the Difference Between a Personal Representative and a Trustee?

Monday November 17, 2008

If your estate plan includes a Revocable Living Trust or some other type of trust, then you'll need to understand the difference between a Personal Representative and a Trustee. While both are types of fiduciaries, they'll play very different roles in your estate plan.

A Personal Representative is appointed by a probate judge to oversee the administration of a probate estate and can be a person, an institution, such as a bank or trust company, or a combination of both. If the decedent had a Last Will and Testament, then in most cases the probate judge will appoint the Personal Representative named in the Last Will. If the decedent didn't have a Last Will, then state law will dictate who the probate judge should appoint to serve as the Personal Representative.

On the other hand, a Trustee is named by the person who creates a trust, called the Trustmaker, to oversee the day to day management of property owned by the trust for the benefit of the trust beneficiaries. As with a Personal Representative, a Trustee can be a person, an institution, or combination of both. In the typical situation, the Trustmaker, Trustee and Beneficiary of a Revocable Living Trust are one in the same person. But if the Trustmaker becomes disabled or dies, then a successor Trustee will step in to manage the trust property.

Further Reading