Yes to both. It is necessary for the trust to work because people die every day. People become incapacitated every day. People disappear every day. People go away or change their minds or get lost or get busy or whatever. For endless reasons, at least one additional trustee – – either current or successor – – is required to make a trust stand up. It’s like a square table. In order to stand up, it must have four legs. The trust must have a grantor, a beneficiary, and two trustees, at the absolute minimum. The bank also requires a second trustee if the creators of the trust wish to open a bank account for it, because the bank feels liable. What if the bank is holding significant assets for the trust and the single trustee disappears? The bank needs someone else to turn to.
