General Duties of Trustees
Trustees have certain duties (some of which are fiduciary). These include the duty to:
- Carry out the expressed terms of the trust instrument
- Defend the trust
- Prudently invest trust assets
- Be impartial among beneficiaries
- Account for actions and keep beneficiaries informed
- Be loyal
- Not delegate
- Not profit
- Not be in a conflict of interest position
- Administer in the best interest of the beneficiaries
The terms of instrument that creates the trust may narrow or expand these duties—but in most instances they cannot be eliminated completely. Corporate trustees, typically trust departments at large banks, often have very narrow duties, limited to those the trust indenture explicitly defines.
A trustee carries the fiduciary responsibility and liability to use the trust assets according to the provisions of the trust instrument (and often regardless of their own or the beneficiaries' wishes). The trustee may find himself liable to claimants, prospective beneficiaries, or third parties. In the event that a trustee incurs a liability (for example, in litigation, or for taxes, or under the terms of a lease) in excess of the trust property they hold, they may find themselves personally liable for the excess.
Trustees are generally held to a "prudent person" standard in regard to meeting their fiduciary responsibilities, though investment, legal, and other professionals can be held to a higher standard commensurate with their higher expertise. Trustees can be paid for their time and trouble in performing their duties only if the trust specifically provides for payment. It is common for lawyers to draft will trusts so as to permit such payment, and to take office accordingly: this may be an unnecessary expense for small estates.
In an exception to the duties outlined above, sabbatical officers of students' unions who are also trustees of these organisations they work for do have the right to a salary (and hence profit from their being a trustee). This is an exception explicitly granted in the 1993 act
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