# trustee

Pronunciation: say "trus-TEE" /tɹʌsˈtiː/

## Noun

1. A person legally entrusted with property to manage it for the benefit of named beneficiaries or for a public purpose.
   - Simple: A person who is given control of money or property to look after it for someone else.
   - _As trustee, he was responsible for investing the estate's assets wisely._
   - _The charity's trustees are bound to spend its funds only on approved projects._
3. A third party holding money or property of a debtor, which a creditor attaches through legal process to satisfy the debt.
   - Simple: A person who holds money belonging to someone with a debt, so a court can use it to pay what is owed.
   - _The creditor named the employer as trustee to reach the wages it was holding._
   - _Once served, the trustee could not release the funds until the case was resolved._

## Verb

2. To formally commit property to a trustee's care, placing it under their legal control on someone's behalf.
   - Simple: To place property under the care of a trustee for safekeeping.
   - _Wealthy families often trustee their property to protect it across generations._
   - _She decided to trustee the shares before transferring management abroad._
4. To legally attach a debtor's wages, credits, or property held by a third party, securing them for the creditor.
   - Simple: To have a court take money or wages that someone else is holding for a person who owes a debt.
   - _Creditors may trustee a debtor's bank deposits to recover what they are owed._
   - _The firm decided to trustee the contractor's outstanding payments held by the client._

## Origin

Formed from "trust" combined with the suffix "-ee."

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/trustee (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).