Voting Rights
Learn how voting rights work inside a living trust and what role beneficiaries and trustees play in trust management decisions.
Do beneficiaries get a say in how a living trust is managed?
In most revocable living trusts, the person who creates the trust (the grantor) retains full control during their lifetime, including all decision-making power. Beneficiaries typically have no voting rights or management authority while the grantor is alive and the trust remains revocable. Once the grantor passes away or the trust becomes irrevocable, the trustee takes over management, and beneficiaries may have rights to information and accountings — but day-to-day decisions still rest with the trustee, not the beneficiaries.
