Trustee care for a vulnerable beneficiary and blended families

A trustee looking after a vulnerable beneficiary has two jobs that pull in different directions: shield a person who cannot manage assets alone, and stay even-handed toward everyone else named in the trust. The tension sharpens in a blended family, where a second spouse and children from earlier unions all look to the same trust deed. This page describes what a trustee in Switzerland does in those situations, and what it does not do.

When the request comes from a beneficiary under guardianship

A common starting point is a request from a beneficiary who is under guardianship or protective measures. Someone acting for them asks the trustee for a distribution, for the accounts, or for a reason behind a refusal.

The trustee cannot simply pay the money to whoever asks. It has to establish who is entitled to act for the beneficiary, what authority that person holds, and whether the payment serves the beneficiary's interests. The guardian or representative is not the beneficiary, and the trust deed may set its own conditions on how benefits are received.

In practice the trustee will usually:

• ask for proof of the representative's authority;
• read the trust deed and any letter of wishes for guidance on this beneficiary;
• decide whether payment should go to a provider, a care institution or a managed account rather than to a person;
• record the reasoning, so that the decision can be explained later.

The letter of wishes matters here: it tells the trustee how the settlor pictured this person's needs, and it can be updated as circumstances change. See also how a trustee uses and updates letters of wishes.

Balancing several households

Example: a family in Lausanne in which a settlor, remarried, has adult children from a first marriage, a second spouse, and a young child from the new household. The trust deed names all of them. The first-marriage children worry that the second spouse will be favoured; the second spouse worries about security for the young child; nobody wants a quarrel.

A trustee in this position is not an advocate for any household. It owes duties to all beneficiaries according to the deed, and it must be able to show that each decision followed the deed and the settlor's stated intentions, not the loudest voice. This is why trustee neutrality in a blended family is a selection criterion in its own right, and why what a trustee owes the beneficiaries is worth reading before you sign anything.

Swiss succession law adds a layer outside the trust. Since the revised succession rules came into force on 1 January 2023, a reserved portion protects descendants, a spouse and a registered partner (Art. 470 para. 1 CC), and it is half of the statutory entitlement (Art. 471 CC). Parents no longer belong to the protected heirs. Article 15 of the Hague Convention also preserves mandatory rules on succession rights where a trust is concerned. Whether these rules touch your structure depends on the law applicable to the estate, the family's residence and the assets involved, so it calls for an individual analysis.

Who receives what, and who decides

The tree below shows the questions a trustee typically works through for one proposed payment.

What the service covers

Staged and conditional payments

Staged payments let a trustee release value over time rather than all at once, for example to cover a care need now and keep the balance for later. Conditions must be authorised by the deed: a trustee cannot invent them. Where the deed is silent, the protector or an amendment procedure may be the route, and that is worth checking early.

Coordination with benefits

A beneficiary with health or capacity needs may already receive public or private support. A distribution from the trust may affect that support, and the effect depends on the type of benefit and the place of residence. The trustee's role is to flag the point and ask the right adviser, not to decide it.

How the work runs

1. Reading the structure. The trustee studies the deed, the letter of wishes, any protector's powers and the list of beneficiaries.
2. Mapping needs. It identifies who needs protection, who represents them and which households have competing expectations.
3. Setting a distribution approach. This covers direct payments, payments to providers, staged releases and a regular review, always within the deed.
4. Recording and reporting. Decisions are minuted and reported according to the trust's compliance and reporting duties.
5. Reviewing. Needs change; the approach is revisited at least at the yearly compliance review or when a trigger occurs.

For an inherited or older structure, an independent review of an existing trust can show whether the deed even allows the safeguards you want.

What it does not cover

The service does not provide a mediation between family members, medical or social-work assessments, guardianship proceedings, or tax advice for any country. It does not guarantee how a court will treat a claim. The trustee administers according to the deed; where the deed needs to change, that is a separate legal exercise.

What a confidential assessment establishes

The assessment looks at the deed, the beneficiaries and their needs, and the current trustee's approach. It can show whether the trust gives enough room to protect a vulnerable beneficiary, whether the current allocation is defensible between households, and whether a change of trustee or a deed amendment is worth considering. Fees depend on the structure and are indicated after the assessment.