Who Might You Consider Naming to Fill Various Roles.

The persons you might select for each role in your estate plan could include a number of different possibilities. Below are some of the more common relationships or categories of people named. Your options, however, are not limited to any list. The important point it to pick people that are appropriate to your plan and the specific role you are filling.

• Family. By far the most common selection for most or all roles is family members. But family is not always the answer. You might not have family members to name. You may have a small family, live to far distant from your family or not get along with them. Family is also inappropriate in many situations. 
• Friends. Many people name friends to serve in some or all roles. If you don’t have family that you are comfortable naming, friends may be a good choice. Just make sure the relationship is solid enough for the roles involved. Also, friends (or more distant relatives) may be a preferable to relatives if the relatives are also beneficiaries. 
• Professional Adviser. Some people choose to name their professional adviser in some capacities. That may be fine if you are choosing to make that appointment, perhaps not if the adviser is the one encouraging or pushing their own appointment. Consider how long and how well you know the particular adviser. A CPA or lawyer who has worked with your family for years, perhaps decades, may be a good choice. An adviser you just recently met and have limited experience with, and whose knowledge of your family is limited, may not be a great choice.
• Bank or Trust Company. Naming a professional trustee, such as a trust company, may enhance asset protection planning (preventing creditors from reaching trust assets), the independence that a trust might have to deflect a challenge by the IRS to include trust assets in your estate, etc. To accomplish asset protection or estate tax goals your trust might be formed and operated (administered) in a state that has laws more favorable to your meeting your planning goals. You may require a trustee in that state. With some particularly challenging positions, a professional institution may be better equipped to fill the position well as compared to an individual named. For example, if you create a trust for a special needs child, managing a special needs trust requires specific skills that most individual lack. The trust may have to meet complex government requirements that an expert in that field should be charged with.
• Professional Individual Fiduciary. There are skilled individuals who are willing to serve for compensation in various fiduciary capacities. These might be retired estate planning attorneys or trust officers.