Your trustee will be responsible for investing, managing and distributing assets that you've placed in trust for your loved ones, so picking the right person for the job is an important part of your estate planning strategy.

Here's another way to look at it, unlike your executor, who handles your finances for a set period of time and then settles your estate, your trustee will be in charge of your money for years—maybe even decades.

We recommend asking yourself these questions about potential trustees:

1. Does this person share your values about money? You don't want a trustee who will be overly aggressive or overly conservative when managing and investing your money.

2. Is this person able to interact well with your beneficiaries or are conflicts likely to arise over requests for trust distributions? You want a trustee who won't cave in to every whim, but who also will be fair-minded.

3. Does this person have knowledge about investing and finances in general?

If the answer is "yes" to all three questions, you may have a good candidate to be your trustee.

Would you like to learn more about preparing your will? Click here to get our complete advice.