"Trustee" versus "Executor": What is the difference?

One of the most common points of confusion we see in estate planning, among new clients and people who have had a plan in place for years, alike: the difference between a trustee and an executor.

People use the terms interchangeably all the time, but they are not actually the same thing.

A trustee manages a trust. The trustee's authority covers everything held in the name of the trust, and this role spans your entire lifetime, not just after death. While you are alive and capable, you typically serve as your own trustee. If you become incapacitated, a successor trustee steps in to manage trust assets on your behalf. After you pass away, a successor trustee is responsible for distributing assets to your beneficiaries according to the trust's terms. Depending on the plan, the list of people to serve as successor trustee during incapacity and after death may or may not include the same individuals.

An executor is named in a will, and the executor's authority is much more limited in two important ways. First, an executor can only control assets held in your personal name, not assets held in a trust. Second, the executor's role only begins after death. The executor is responsible for wrapping up your estate, filing the will with the court, paying outstanding debts, and distributing whatever assets pass outside of the trust.

In a well-structured estate plan, the executor's job is actually fairly narrow. If most of your assets are properly held in your trust, the trustee handles the heavy lifting. The executor handles whatever is left outside of it.

We typically recommend naming the same person for both successor trustee after death and executor. It simplifies things and avoids coordination issues between two people managing different pieces of the same estate. But they are still separate legal responsibilities, and it is worth being intentional about who you choose.