If Trust Requires 3 Trustees - Can One Use The Same Trustees For All Trusts

If Trust Requires 3 Trustees - Can One Use The Same Trustees For All Trusts

Yes, one can use the same trustees for all trusts created. The legal reasoning behind having (3) trustees, is due to the fact that having 50% control or more of a trust as trustee can lead to undesirable results when defending a trust in court. Further, if 2 trusts are called into court due to interacting with each other, a judge will want to see 2 unique individuals standing there in court to represent each trust. If there is only one trustee, representing both trusts - it would not pass "The Smell Test" and be deemed potentially fraudulent by the judge (even when it is not).

NOTE: Due to the privacy agreement within the Trust Indenture (a private contract), no trustee can be forced by law (per U.S. Constitution Art. I Sec. X Clause I) to reveal any other trustees which sit on the Board of Trustees. Only one trustee need be in court to defend the trust.