A trustee is a person who has legal responsibility for assets on behalf of somebody else, called the beneficiary.
Trusts have all sorts of uses. They can be complicated they don’t have to be. In fact even the most simple of wills might require someone to take legal responsibility for assets on behalf of someone else. A good example of this is where a will leaves something to a child under 18 In that case a trust is needed to hold the assets for them until they reach 18 (or older if that’s what the will specifies).
What does a trustee do?
A trustee’s responsibility is to manage assets in the best interests of the beneficiary or beneficiaries. The trustee’s powers to deal with assets are governed by statute, as well as the terms of the will.