Another position I de facto turned down by deferring the making a decision on and never following back up on.

Googling how one chooses a successor trustee of an individual trust came up with this (underlined emphasis added):

“The person or institution you choose as successor trustee will have a crucial role: to manage your trust property (if you become incapacitated) or distribute it to your beneficiaries (after your death).

Obviously, when you are giving someone this much power and discretion, you should choose someone with good common sense whom you trust completely. If you don’t know anyone who fits this description, think twice about establishing a living trust. Most people pick an adult son or daughter, other relative or close friend.

In most situations, the successor trustee will not need extensive experience in financial management; common sense, dependability and complete honesty are usually enough. A successor trustee who may have long-term responsibility over a young beneficiary’s trust property needs more management and financial skills than a successor trustee whose only job is to distribute trust property. The successor trustee does have authority, however, under the terms of the trust document, to get any reasonably necessary professional help — from an accountant, lawyer or tax preparer, perhaps — and pay for it out of trust assets.”

AI result: “When choosing a successor trustee, you can consider: 

• Trust type and assets The amount and type of assets in the trust, and how long the successor trustee will need to manage them 
• Trust complexity The complexity of the trust document’s provisions 
• Candidate qualifications The candidate’s common sense, dependability, honesty, and financial or business experience 
• Time available The candidate’s time availability due to their own family or career demands 
• Institutional trustees Whether to choose a corporate trustee, such as a bank trust department or trust company 

You can choose an adult child, other relative, or trusted friend as your successor trustee. You should name more than one in case your first choice is unable to act. 

You should ask the people you are considering if they would want this responsibility. They don’t need to be financial experts, but they should be able to find good, honest advisers to help with taxes or other matters. 

The successor trustee’s job usually takes only a few weeks or months, but it could take years or decades if the trust is set up to care for children or grandchildren.”

This is actually the most relevant email to my original goal that I’ve found in a while.

Also, I went through about 50 emails in an hour to finish March 2010!