At what age should children inherit outright? Prior to that who should be in charge of any assets on their behalf?
If you don’t decide these matters then your children would inherit outright at 18 years and the people that you really trust to look after their assets may not have the opportunity.
Trustees are a group of people who collectively decide how to make the best use of the assets under their control on behalf of the trusts beneficiaries.
Any trust comprising land or property requires two trustees and the maximum number of trustees is four.
It is usually a good idea that the Trustees and Guardians are not one and the same, because the Trustee’s direct assets via the Guardian(s) for the benefit of the children and this could leave to a blurring of, in whose best interest, expenditure was being incurred.
If appointing a guardian as a trustee we recommend that the other trustee(s) are independent e.g. not the guardians spouse or partner.