Appointor succession planning

Appointor succession planning means naming a clear successor (or successors) who steps in when the current appointor dies or loses capacity. A proper plan covers both triggers, defines the evidentiary standard for incapacity, and provides a tie-breaker for joint or several structures.

Cover both death and incapacity

Most older nominations only address death. Modern nominations explicitly cover loss of capacity, with the standard usually a medical certificate from a treating doctor (sometimes a specialist for borderline cases). Skip this and your trust can be stranded if the appointor develops dementia.

Individual, joint, or committee

Single successor: simplest, most decisive, but no check on poor judgment. Joint: requires agreement, harder to deadlock but slower. Several: each can act alone, fast but no check. Committee: useful for large families, requires clear voting rules.

Define decision-making

For joint or committee structures, the nomination should specify: how decisions are made (unanimous, majority, supermajority), how meetings are called, what happens in deadlock. Without these, the role can grind to a halt.

Coordinate with the will

The current appointor’s will should usually be silent on the appointor role (the nomination handles it) – but if the will tries to bequeath the role, that can conflict with the nomination. We coordinate the two documents.

Summary

Planning for who follows the appointor is one of the highest-impact, lowest-cost trust governance moves.

Talk to Sam about your situation

If this article raised questions for your own circumstances, Sam Michele offers free 20-minute initial consultations. Learn more about our appointor nomination service, or book a consultation.

Related reading

• Who is the appointor of a trust?
• Appointor vs trustee
• Appointor nominations