You are never obligated to become the estate trustee.

However, if you take on the role, then you have to complete it or be discharged from the role by the Court properly.

Just because you are named the executor in a will or have a right to apply as estate trustee for an intestacy does not mean that you are obliged to take on the role.

If for any reason you are unable or unwilling to take on the onerous duties of being the estate trustee you may renounce the role without explanation or cost, provided you do so before taking any steps to administer the estate.

There is actually no formal step that you must take to renounce.  You simply decline to act.  However, it is prudent and helpful to advise any alternate executor named in the will (and failing that, the beneficiaries) that you do not intend to act and will not be administering the estate.

If someone else steps forward to apply for appointment as estate trustee, they will require your signed renunciation.  This is a specified Court form which they file with their application for a certificate of appointment as estate trustee.  In other words, the person applying files the renunciation, not the person who is renouncing.

If you wish to renounce you must do so at the outset.

If you start administering the estate you cannot simply change your mind and renounce later.  Once you interfere with the estate (called ‘intermeddling’) you cannot renounce and can only be released of your obligations by resigning.  A resigning trustee must pass their accounts.

In general terms, you are permitted to make reasonable inquiries to see if you want to take on the role without ‘intermeddling’ in the estate.  However, If you take any action which changes the estate (deal with any assets or liabilities) for instance, then you have ‘meddled’ and can only be released from liability by resigning and passing your accounts.  A simple example is ‘if you use estate funds to pay an estate debt’ then you have intermeddled with the estate, whereas if you simply make inquiries to determine what debts the estate had you are not intermeddling.

Resignation and Successor Trustees

Once someone starts to act as if they are the estate trustee (whether they are appointed by the Court or simply ‘intermeddle’ with the estate (basically, taking steps only a trustee has the right to take) they can not ‘renounce’.  They can only cease to act by ‘resignation’.

A resignation is only effective once approved by the Court.  Approval will only be granted after the trustee passes their accounts to the satisfaction of the Court.

It is not uncommon for one estate trustee to fail to complete administration of the estate – often because of death, disability, or resignation.  When this happens, a successor estate trustee can be appointed by the Court.

The requirements for an application for appointment by a successor trustee vary considerably depending on the precise facts – whether there is a will, if there is what the will says, the basis for resignation or incapacity, etc.