Legal Question in Wills and Trusts in California

The terminology you are usiing is confusing. If your Dad has a Will, then upon his death you might be named to be Executor. The responsibilities as Executor would be to initiate and complete a Probate of his Estate, which would include generally gathering his assets, paying creditors, etc... However, the use of the term "successor" would be more in keeping with your Dad having a Living Trust. Again, as the successor trustee your duties would begin when your Dad is either unable to act as Trustee or upon his death. At that point you would be responsible for fulfilling the terms of the trust. Since you haven't read his Estate plan documents it is hard to be more specific about what obligations you may have in the future. I hope this helps.

I agree that you need to find out exactly what kind of instrument your father has. If he does only have a will, you might want to explain to him that a trust will save his estate a considerable amount of tax and time to distribute because a Probate is required for a will.

You can learn more about the differences between a will and a trust on my site No-Probate.com.