What liabilities/responsibilities will I incur if I become a co-executor of a trust for a family member?

Oh, the hell with it. I’ve been composing, recomposing, and re-recomposing and editing my comment for several minutes now and I’m done. You really should probably do at least one initial consult with an attorney in your state to go over with him or her what your liabilities and responsibilities might and would be. That’s what lawyers are for.

This wikipedia article has a lot of ideas and tips.

Your mom is the executor. If you trust her to do a good job, than you should be willing to be co-executor. Every trust, executor of estate, etc., need back-up, just in case. Plus its a good learning experience.

For me the bottom line is that if you are going to responsible, even partly, as co-executor of whatever, for someone else’s money and finances, if you are going to be even partly responsible for seeing to it that the person’s money is spent properly, being responsible for seeing that bills are paid, taxes are paid, any other legal obligations are met etc. then you owe it to both the person whose finances you are managing and to yourself to make sure that all your legal ducks are in a row. If you fail to meet some legal or financial responsibility merely because you didn’t know that it was something you were responsible for, well, the authorities may not be that sympathetic. If you feel confident handling your or someone else’s legal business on your own, without the advice of an attorney, then do it, many people do handle their own estates and trust very well. But if you don’t, it is best, in my opinion, which isn’t worth a whole lot, I will be the first to admit, to get your legal advice from an attorney, not from fluther.

I have the Power of Attorney over my mothers health and finances. its a big responsibility and you should be prepared to donate some serious attention to doing a good job. it’s like having someone else’s life in your hands. you are responsible for executing all financial matters, records, etc., if your mother cannot provide this service. i consider this an honor and you should, too.

@john65pennington Yes, it is an honor. All the more reason to take the responsibility seriously and to make sure that you are doing it right.

I am assuming you mean trustee—not executor. You are responsible for protecting the trust assets and making disbursements pursuant to the trust documents.
Here is a general description, but the states do have different codes regarding this so you should be familiar with the law of the state in which the trust is created.

http://www.elderlawanswers.com/resources/article.asp?id=3600&section=4

@perspicacious, I’m sure that’s probably what I mean, which is indicative of my knowledge on the subject. Thanks!

@kevbo When you are appointed to administer a will you are an executor. You specifically said trust here.