What a Successor Trustee Does After You Die

By Rozsa Gyene, California estate planning attorney, State Bar of California #208356. Published October 1, 2026. Last reviewed October 1, 2026

Most people who are named as a successor trustee have never done it before. The trust document is the instruction manual; the state's trust statute fills in whatever the document leaves out and sets the standard the trustee is held to. The two states used here write that standard in plain language. Pennsylvania: upon acceptance of a trusteeship, the trustee shall administer the trust in good faith, in accordance with its terms and purposes and the interests of the beneficiaries and in accordance with applicable law (20 Pa.C.S. 7771). New York states the investment side of the duty the same way: a trustee has a duty to invest and manage property held in a fiduciary capacity in accordance with the prudent investor standard (EPTL 11-2.3(a)). Everything below is a part of that one duty.

The trust locks in at death

While the person who made the trust is alive, a revocable living trust answers to that person alone. Pennsylvania says it directly: to the extent a trust is revocable, the rights of the beneficiaries are subject to the control of, and the duties of the trustee are owed exclusively to, the settlor (20 Pa.C.S. 7753(a)). The settlor may revoke or amend a trust unless the terms of the trust expressly provide that the trust is irrevocable (section 7752(a)). New York reaches the same place from the opposite default: a lifetime trust shall be irrevocable unless it expressly provides that it is revocable (EPTL 7-1.16), and any amendment or revocation authorized by the trust shall be in writing and executed by the person authorized to amend or revoke the trust (EPTL 7-1.17(b)).

At the settlor's death no one is left who holds that power, so the trust's terms become fixed and the successor trustee administers what the document says. If the document named no successor, or the named successor cannot serve, New York lets the court appoint one: upon such notice to the beneficiaries as the court may direct, the court may appoint a successor trustee whenever in the opinion of the court such appointment is necessary for the effective administration and distribution of the trust estate (EPTL 7-2.3(b)). A successor who steps in under the document inherits the original trustee's authority: a successor or substitute fiduciary succeeds to all of the powers, duties and discretion of the original fiduciary unless the instrument expressly says otherwise (EPTL 11-1.1(b)(12)). Pennsylvania adds a small administrative step for any change of trustee: the trustee notifies the current beneficiaries in writing of the change, with the trustee's name, address and telephone number (20 Pa.C.S. 7780.3(g)).

Notice to beneficiaries

Pennsylvania spells out the first communication. No later than 30 days after the date on which the trustee of a revocable trust learns that the settlor has died, the trustee sends a written notice to the settlor's personal representative, the settlor's spouse (or the spouse's guardian), each of the settlor's children who is sui juris and the guardian of any child who is not, and the trust's current beneficiaries (20 Pa.C.S. 7780.3(c)). The notice must convey the fact of the trust's existence, the identity of the settlor, the trustee's name, address and telephone number, the recipient's right to receive upon request a copy of the trust instrument, and each current beneficiary's right to receive, at least annually, upon request, periodic written financial reports concerning the trust (section 7780.3(i)). A beneficiary may waive the notice in writing (section 7780.3(j)), and the trustee must promptly respond to a reasonable request by a beneficiary of an irrevocable trust for information related to the trust's administration (section 7780.3(a)).

New York's trust article does not contain a section of that kind. Part 2 of EPTL Article 7, Rules Governing Trustees, covers the trustee's estate, successor trustees, acts in contravention of the trust, resignation and removal, and accounting in the supreme court, and does not fix a date by which a trustee must write to beneficiaries after a death. What New York provides instead is the accounting machinery described below, which a beneficiary can set in motion. Whatever the state, telling the beneficiaries promptly who the trustee is and what the trust says is the practical foundation of the whole administration.

Gathering and protecting the property

Pennsylvania states the duty in one sentence: a trustee shall take reasonable steps to take control of and protect the trust property (20 Pa.C.S. 7779). The trustee keeps trust property separate from the trustee's own property and causes it to be designated so that the interest of the trust appears in records maintained by a party other than a trustee or beneficiary (section 7780(b) and (c)). The illustrative powers include insuring the assets of the trust against damage or loss (section 7780.6(a)(6)) and receiving additions to the assets of the trust (section 7780.6(a)(9)), which matters because a pour-over will may deliver property into the trust after death.

New York lists the same powers for every fiduciary unless the instrument limits them: to effect and keep in force fire, rent, title, liability, casualty or other insurance to protect the property of the estate or trust; to take possession of, collect the rents from and manage trust property; and to execute and deliver agreements, assignments, bills of sale, contracts, deeds, notes, receipts and any other instrument necessary or appropriate for the administration of the trust (EPTL 11-1.1(b)(4), (5)(A) and (17)). In practice this means locating every account and deed, retitling accounts to the successor trustee, securing and insuring real property, and making an inventory with values as of the date of death. Pennsylvania's certification of trust, described below, lists the trust's taxpayer identification number among its contents (20 Pa.C.S. 7790.3(a)(7)), a reminder that the trust will need one of its own once the settlor is gone.

Investments come under a separate standard. New York requires a trustee to exercise reasonable care, skill and caution to make and implement investment and management decisions as a prudent investor would for the entire portfolio, and, within a reasonable time after the creation of the fiduciary relationship, to determine whether to retain or dispose of initial assets (EPTL 11-2.3(b)(2) and (3)(D)). Pennsylvania's prudent investor rule tells a fiduciary to invest and manage property held in a trust as a prudent investor would, by considering the purposes, terms and other circumstances of the trust and by pursuing an overall investment strategy reasonably suited to the trust (20 Pa.C.S. 7203(a)), and its general standard is that a trustee shall administer the trust as a prudent person would, by exercising reasonable care, skill and caution (section 7774).

The certification of trust

Banks, brokers and title companies want proof that the successor trustee is who they say they are. Pennsylvania gives the trustee a short cut: instead of furnishing a copy of the trust instrument to a person other than a beneficiary, the trustee may furnish a certification of trust stating the trust's existence and the date the trust instrument was executed, the identity of the settlor, the identity and address of the currently acting trustee, the powers of the trustee, whether the trust is revocable or irrevocable and who holds any power to revoke, the authority of cotrustees, the trust's taxpayer identification number, and the manner of taking title to trust property (20 Pa.C.S. 7790.3(a)). It must state that the trust has not been revoked, modified or amended in a manner that would make it incorrect (section 7790.3(c)), and it need not contain the dispositive terms of the trust (section 7790.3(d)). A person who acts in reliance upon a certification of trust without knowledge that it is incorrect is not liable to any person for so acting (section 7790.3(f)).

New York's EPTL Article 7 has no certification of trust section; the table of contents on the legislature's site lists none, and a search of the bills signed in the 2025 to 2026 session for the phrase found nothing on the subject. A New York successor trustee should expect to show the trust instrument, or the pages that name the trustee and state the powers, together with the death certificate. Either way, a trust that was fully funded during life, with accounts and the deed already in the trust's name, makes this step far easier; see how to fund a living trust.

Paying debts, expenses and taxes

Before anyone inherits, the trustee settles what the settlor and the trust owe. Both statutes give the trustee the authority. New York: to contest, compromise or otherwise settle any claim in favor of the trust or against it, and to pay all other reasonable and proper expenses of administration from the property of the trust, including any reasonable counsel fees the fiduciary may necessarily incur (EPTL 11-1.1(b)(13) and (22)). Pennsylvania: to pay or contest a claim, to settle a claim by or against the trust, and to pay taxes, assessments, compensation of the trustee and employees and agents of the trustee and other expenses incurred in the administration of the trust (20 Pa.C.S. 7780.6(a)(2) and (8)). Pennsylvania also tells the trustee not to distribute too soon: upon an event terminating a trust, the trustee distributes within a reasonable time, subject to the right of the trustee to retain a reasonable reserve for the payment of debts, expenses and taxes (section 7780.7).

Tax returns come in two layers, and this guide describes them only in general terms. There are the settlor's own final returns for the year of death, and there may be returns for the trust itself, as a separate taxpayer, covering income it earns during administration. New York's fiduciary powers include joining with the surviving spouse in a joint income tax return for any period before the decedent's death (EPTL 11-1.1(b)(21)); Pennsylvania's include exercising elections with respect to Federal, State and local taxes (20 Pa.C.S. 7780.6(a)(33)). Which returns are due, when, and whether any estate or inheritance tax applies depends on the state and the size of the estate, and is the first thing to put in front of a tax professional.

Distributions

Once debts, expenses and taxes are provided for, the trustee distributes according to the document. The core rule is that the trustee has no discretion to depart from it: in New York every sale, conveyance or other act of the trustee in contravention of the trust, except as authorized by law, is void (EPTL 7-2.4). Where there is more than one beneficiary, Pennsylvania adds a duty of impartiality: the trustee shall act impartially in investing, managing and distributing the trust property, giving due regard to the beneficiaries' respective interests, which does not mean that the trustee must treat the beneficiaries equally but that the trustee must treat them equitably in light of the purposes of the trust (20 Pa.C.S. 7773).

The mechanics are flexible. New York allows distribution in cash, in kind valued at the fair market value of the property at the date of distribution, or partly in each, without being required to make pro rata distributions of specific property (EPTL 11-1.1(b)(20)). Pennsylvania lists the same power, to distribute in cash or in kind or partly in each and allocate particular assets in proportionate or disproportionate shares, and adds practical tools for beneficiaries who cannot receive property outright: funds for a minor may be paid to the minor, to a guardian of the minor's estate, or applied directly for the minor's benefit, and funds for a beneficiary who is disabled by illness and unable properly to manage them may be applied for the beneficiary's benefit or paid to a guardian, an agent under a general power of attorney, or a person having custody or care of the beneficiary (20 Pa.C.S. 7780.6(a)(24), (25) and (31)). Neither section quoted here requires a signed receipt for each distribution, but a receipt is how a trustee later proves the job was done.

Recordkeeping and accounting

A trustee shall keep adequate records of the administration of the trust (20 Pa.C.S. 7780(a)). Pennsylvania ties those records to a reporting right: each current beneficiary may ask for periodic written financial reports at least annually (section 7780.3(i)(5)), and the reports protect the trustee as well. A beneficiary is barred from challenging a transaction if the trustee provided the beneficiary at least annually with periodic written financial reports, the transaction was disclosed in a report, the beneficiary did not object in writing within 30 months after the report was sent, and all reports were accompanied by a conspicuous written statement describing the effect of that rule (section 7785(a)(1)). A trustee can also file a formal account with the court; a person who fails, at the call for audit or confirmation of a trustee's account, to present a claim that arose out of the administration or distribution of trust property is forever barred from making the claim against the property distributed under the audit (section 7798).

New York runs trustee accountings through the Surrogate's Court Procedure Act. A trustee may voluntarily present an account for judicial settlement where one or more distinct and separate trusts created by the will or lifetime trust instrument have been or are ready to be executed, or where the account has not been judicially settled within one year before the application (SCPA 2208(3)). A beneficiary need not wait: the court may at any time, on its own initiative or on the petition of a creditor or a person interested, order a fiduciary to file an intermediate or final account within such time and in such manner as directed by it (SCPA 2205), and a fiduciary who is cited and fails to appear or to file the account can have letters suspended and a successor appointed (SCPA 2206). A court appointed successor trustee is subject to the same duties, as to accounting and trust administration, as are imposed by law on trustees (EPTL 7-2.3(b)(2)). A simple ledger of every receipt and payment, kept from the first day, is what makes any of these accountings possible.

The standard the trustee is held to

Loyalty comes first. A trustee shall administer the trust solely in the interests of the beneficiaries (20 Pa.C.S. 7772(a)), and a sale, purchase, exchange, encumbrance or other disposition of property between the trust and the trustee personally, or the trustee's spouse, parent, or descendant of a parent, is presumed to be affected by a conflict and is voidable by a court on a beneficiary's application unless the trust authorized it, the court approved it, or the beneficiary consented (section 7772(b) and (c)). Pennsylvania permits reasonable compensation to the trustee if disclosed to the current beneficiaries (section 7772(h)(2)) and limits the trustee to costs that are reasonable in relation to the trust property, the purposes of the trust and the skills of the trustee (section 7775). A trustee who has special skills or expertise must use them (section 7776).

Prudence is a standard of conduct, not of results. New York's prudent investor rule requires a standard of conduct, not outcome or performance, judged in light of facts and circumstances prevailing at the time of the decision, and a trustee is not liable to a beneficiary to the extent that the trustee acted in substantial compliance with the standard or in reasonable reliance on the express terms of the governing instrument (EPTL 11-2.3(b)(1)). Diversification is part of it: the trustee is to diversify assets unless the trustee reasonably determines that it is in the interests of the beneficiaries not to diversify (EPTL 11-2.3(b)(3)(C)).

When to get professional help

Both statutes expect a trustee to delegate what a careful person would delegate. New York authorizes a trustee to delegate investment and management functions if consistent with the duty to exercise skill, while remaining responsible for selecting a suitable delegee, setting the scope of the delegation, periodically reviewing the delegee's work and controlling the overall cost (EPTL 11-2.3(b)(4)(C) and (c)(1)). Pennsylvania allows a trustee to delegate duties and powers that a prudent trustee of comparable skills might delegate under the circumstances, with the same three obligations of selection, scope and periodic review, and a trustee who complies is not liable for the agent's actions (20 Pa.C.S. 7777(a) and (c)).

Situations where that help is usually worth its cost: real property or accounts in another state (Pennsylvania lets the trustee appoint a trustee to act in another jurisdiction for property located there, section 7780.6(a)(32)); a business the trust now owns (section 7780.6(a)(29)); a beneficiary with a disability who receives public benefits; a dispute among beneficiaries, which Pennsylvania lets the trustee take to mediation or arbitration (section 7780.6(a)(3)); any estate large enough that a state or federal estate tax return might be required; and any accounting that will be filed with a court. A successor trustee who needs help with the settlor's affairs outside the trust should also read about the durable power of attorney, whose authority ends at the principal's death and does not carry over to the trustee's role.