What is a Trustee?
In your capacity as settlor, you appoint trustees when the trust is first set-up. The trustees have total control over the trust assets, which in the case of a life insurance policy; will be the payout of a claim.
You can subsequently appoint additional trustees, and because of the power of control that trustees have, you should choose carefully whom you wish to appoint.
It is possible for a person to be a trustee and a beneficiary or a trustee only; for example, you would probably want to name your spouse or partner as a trustee and as a beneficiary.
A trustee has to be at least 18 years of age. Dependant upon the trust wording, the trustee may also be required to be a UK resident.
Depending on the terms of the trust, you, the settlor, may or may not automatically be an ongoing trustee. If you are not an automatic ongoing trustee, you can appoint yourself as a trustee.
Unless a trustee is also a beneficiary, he or she will not be allowed to benefit from the trust themselves, but they can administer the trust for the benefit of the beneficiaries, which means they can give or, if the trust wording allows it, lend money to beneficiaries.
