Even if named, do I have to act as an Estate Trustee?
The answer is no. At the outset, even if you have been appointed in a Will or are the most obvious candidate to apply to be appointed as estate trustee in the absence of a Will, you are not bound to take up that responsibility. At the very beginning, you can resign and/or decline to so act. However, if you pick up the mantle and begin to act as an estate trustee, and certainly if you apply and are so appointed by the courts, you can only be removed from that position by an order of the court.
All of the responsibilities of an estate trustee, once you assume that responsibility are yours and you must fulfill them it to the best of your ability.
The most common scenario in which a person will decline their appointment as estate trustee, is for an estate that has a negative value. Even though an estate trustee’s fees are paid in priority to any creditor, it rarely is worth the aggravation and effort to carry out those duties. Often if the net worth of an estate is one that is suspect, a preliminary unofficial inventory will be a prospective executor’s first duty.
