Quick piece of advice: if you do not like bookkeeping, don’t be a Trustee. It takes a good deal of time and effort for a Trustee to properly keep Trust assets, separate, and identified. Not only that, but every expense you have, every bill you pay, must be documented with a receipt.

Why all the details? It mainly is required because you are managing someone else’s money. That means at some point you will be called upon to account for your actions as Trustee. And any good Trust accounting will show the beginning assets, the income, the expenses, and the assets on hand at the end of the accounting period. While it is not difficult to keep assets separate and identified, it can be time consuming.

But in the end it is the best way to prepare an accounting. If you start moving Trust assets around and mixing them with your own money, then it can be quite difficult to account for your actions. Not only that, the beneficiaries will demand to see your personal account statements if you have commingled funds into your personal accounts.

If you are crazy enough to take on the thankless job of being a Trustee, then do yourself a favor and make sure your money and the Trust money remain separate and apart.