Legal Definitions - appointee

An appointee is an individual who has been formally selected or designated for a specific role, position, or benefit. This term applies in two primary contexts:

• Generally, it refers to someone chosen for an office, committee, or task.
• More specifically in legal and estate planning, an appointee is a person designated to receive property or assets through a "power of appointment." A power of appointment is a legal right given to one person (the "holder" of the power) to decide who will receive certain property or assets from another person's estate or trust. The individual ultimately chosen by the holder to receive these assets is the appointee.

Here are some examples to illustrate the concept of an appointee:

• Example 1 (General Appointment - Public Service): After a local election, the newly elected mayor decides to form a special committee to address community safety concerns. She formally selects and announces several prominent community leaders and law enforcement officials to serve on this committee.

  Explanation: Each individual chosen by the mayor to serve on the community safety committee is an appointee. They have been formally designated to a specific role and task by an authority figure.

• Example 2 (General Appointment - Corporate Context): The board of directors for a large technology company conducts an extensive search for a new Chief Financial Officer (CFO). After reviewing many candidates, the board votes to formally offer the position to a particular candidate, who accepts.

  Explanation: The individual selected by the board to become the new CFO is an appointee. They have been formally chosen and designated for a specific executive position within the company.

• Example 3 (Specific Legal Appointment - Estate Planning): A grandmother's will creates a trust for her daughter, giving the daughter (as the holder of a "power of appointment") the authority to decide which of her own children (the grandmother's grandchildren) will ultimately receive the remaining trust funds after the daughter's death. Years later, the daughter executes a document naming her eldest child as the recipient of the remaining trust assets.

  Explanation: In this scenario, the daughter's eldest child is the appointee. They receive the benefit of the trust because their mother, exercising the "power of appointment" granted in the grandmother's will, formally designated them as the recipient of the assets.