What is a Trustee Appointer?
The Trustee Appointer controls who serves as trustee. Because this is such an important mechanism for avoiding a court appointment (and all the costs associated with going to court), the trustee appointer role is created contractually to be uniform across all states, regardless of whether there is a formal trust protector role in that state.
Key powers of the Trustee Appointer include:
Removing Current Trustees: The ability to remove a trustee who is currently active.
Removing Successor Trustees: The ability to remove a designated successor trustee who has not yet assumed the role.
Wealth.com’s forms create a contractual role that borrows from the state statutory trust protector’s role where available. For example, the trustee appointer must act in the best interest of all the beneficiaries of the trust (and not just in his or her own best interests). We took this approach because not all states have a trust protector statute.