Co-trustees vs sole trustee: which set-up suits your trust?

Start with the question most people skip: what happens when two trustees cannot agree? With a sole trustee the question never arises. With co-trustees it decides whether the structure works or stalls. Co-trustees vs sole trustee is therefore less a matter of numbers than of rules: who decides, who breaks a tie, and who carries on when one office-holder is unavailable.

This page compares the two set-ups fairly. Neither is better in the abstract. Which one suits you depends on the assets, the family, the countries involved and the people available to serve.

What the choice actually means

A sole trustee is one person or one company that holds the office alone. It takes every decision, signs every document and answers for the trust's administration. Co-trustees are two or more office-holders who share the office. They may be two individuals, an individual and a company, or a professional trustee alongside a family member.

Note that Switzerland has no trust law of its own: the trust itself is governed by a foreign law, and Swiss practice relies on the Hague Convention to recognise it (see the Sources below). What you are choosing here is a way of exercising the office, set out in the trust deed and the governing law, not a Swiss legal form. For the wider selection method, see how to choose a trustee in Switzerland.

Joint decisions: unanimity, majority or delegation

Co-trustees do not automatically decide by majority. Many trust deeds and governing laws start from the idea that trustees act together, so that each one must join in an important decision. A deed can change that. It may allow majority decisions, split responsibilities, or let one trustee handle routine matters alone.

The practical questions to ask are these:

• Which decisions need every co-trustee, and which can one trustee take alone?
• Can a trustee delegate routine tasks, such as bank instructions, to a colleague or to the administrator?
• Does each co-trustee remain answerable for decisions taken by the others?
• Who signs documents when one trustee is travelling?

A sole trustee avoids all of this, but carries every decision alone. That is quicker, yet no one inside the structure reviews the choice before it is made. For many families, that review is the reason to add a second trustee.

Deadlock: the rule that matters most

Deadlock happens when co-trustees are evenly divided and the deed offers no way through. A distribution waits, an investment decision drifts, a bank asks for instructions that cannot be given. The beneficiaries feel the delay first.

A well-drafted deed anticipates this. Common answers include:

• a casting vote for a named trustee, usually the professional one;
• referral to the protector, whose role is explained in working with a protector;
• an agreed mediator or independent adviser;
• an application to a court as a last resort, which is slow and public.

Each answer has a cost. A casting vote ends the stalemate but shifts power to one co-trustee. A protector can resolve a split, yet only if the protector is genuinely independent. The trustee, protector and beneficiary triangle shows how these roles interact. If your deed is silent on deadlock, that silence is worth fixing before any dispute arises.

Example: a professional and a family member together

Consider an illustration: a family established in Lausanne names a professional trustee company and the settlor's eldest daughter as co-trustees. The daughter knows the family business and the beneficiaries well. The company brings regulated procedures, record-keeping and continuity.

Most decisions go smoothly. Then the daughter wants a generous distribution to a sibling who is struggling, while the company worries about the effect on other beneficiaries and on the trust's liquidity. Without a deadlock rule the matter stalls. With a clause giving the professional trustee a casting vote on distributions, and the protector a role on questions about the family business, the disagreement has a clear route to resolution. The case study on a protector and trustee who disagree shows a similar dispute in practice.

Cost: more than a second set of honoraria

Cost is not simply a matter of paying two people instead of one. A second trustee may add its own remuneration, though the amount depends on the structure and on what each trustee does. A family member serving without pay lowers the visible cost but raises other risks, such as less formal record-keeping or divided loyalties.

Hidden costs matter too. Co-trustees need more time to consult, meetings are harder to arrange, and joint signatures slow routine banking. A sole trustee may be cheaper to run day to day but costs more if its absence leaves the structure stranded. Fees are set after a confidential assessment of the actual structure; the models are explained in how trustees are paid.

Continuity: when one trustee is not there

A sole individual trustee is the most exposed set-up. If that person dies, falls ill or retires, the trust has no one to act until a successor takes over. That gap can freeze bank accounts and delay distributions. The situation described in your individual trustee has died or retired shows how disruptive that is.

Co-trustees reduce this risk, because the remaining office-holder can keep going. They also bring a risk of their own: a trust that relied on a close pair of co-trustees may lose both at once, or lose the one who held all the knowledge. A corporate trustee offers continuity through its team rather than through one person, but that depends on the company's own depth and succession planning. See continuity planning when the trustee is not there for the questions to put to any trustee.

Responsibility, supervision and regulation

Co-trustees generally share responsibility for the trust. A family member who joins a professional trustee does not leave the compliance work to the professional alone: in many legal systems, each trustee is expected to take an active part. A passive co-trustee can still be answerable for what the others do.

Regulation also matters. A professional trustee in Geneva operates under supervision, with anti-money-laundering duties and reporting obligations. A family member does not. Where a regulated trustee sits alongside a private individual, the regulated one usually carries the compliance workload, and it will want clear instructions about how the two share the office. The FINMA and SO-FIT guide explains what supervision does and does not cover.

Five points side by side

The table below summarises the comparison on five points. It describes tendencies, not rules: a carefully drafted deed can change most of them.

Questions to put to yourself before deciding

A few questions bring the decision into focus:

• Is there a person in the family you trust to serve, and would they accept the duties and the personal responsibility that go with the office?
• Do you want a built-in second opinion, or a single point of accountability?
• Would a corporate trustee give the continuity you need on its own, or do you also want a family voice?
• Does the deed say who breaks a tie?
• Are the beneficiaries spread over several countries, which makes consultation harder and local knowledge more useful?

If you are an adviser looking at this for a client, the page on professional trustee company or private trust company covers a related choice about who holds the office.

Converting from one set-up to the other

Many trusts change over time. A sole individual trustee may be joined by a professional co-trustee as the assets grow. Co-trustees may agree that one of them should retire and leave a sole professional trustee. Either move is done by a deed of retirement and appointment, and the trust deed or governing law must allow it. Look at who holds the power to appoint and remove, and whether the protector or the settlor must agree. The steps are described in changing trustee step by step.

Selon votre situation

Co-trustees vs sole trustee has no universal answer. A sole trustee suits a structure where one regulated office-holder with a strong team can act quickly and be held to account. Co-trustees suit a family that wants a second view, a blend of local knowledge and professional method, or protection against the loss of one person. The price of that second view is slower decisions and the need for a clear deadlock rule.

Depending on your situation, and in particular your residence, the beneficiaries' countries, the type of assets and the governing law of the deed, the right answer will differ. This page is general information, not advice. An individual analysis of your trust deed is the sound way to decide, and the confidential assessment form is the route for that.