Mitigating Successor Trustee Liability for Prior Fiduciary Breach: Trust Structure and Administrative Tools
Recording of a 90-minute CLE webinar with Q&A
This CLE course will provide estate planning counsel and fiduciary advisers with a thorough and practical guide to protecting successor trustees from liability for breach of fiduciary duty by a preceding trustee or executor. The panel will describe the general rules binding successor trustees and detail various states’ approaches that limit or expand those duties. The panel will discuss structuring and administrative tools to protect successor trustees from claims arising from prior acts.
Outline
- Identifying successor trustees
- Liability exposure of successor trustees for acts or omissions by prior fiduciaries
- Restatement approach
- State approaches to successor trustee duties
- Drafting tools to minimize successor trustee liability
- Administrative tools after successor trustee is appointed
Benefits
The panel will review these and other key issues:
- What actions does the Restatement (Second) of Trusts require of successor trustees to identify possible breach of trust duties by prior fiduciaries?
- Which states impose stricter requirements on successor trustees than the Restatement approach? Which states have more lenient standards?
- What provisions can estate planners and trust drafters include in the trust operating agreement to protect successor trustees?
- What administrative steps are available to minimize successor trustees’ liability exposure?
Faculty
David D. Little
Atty
Hartog Baer & Hand
Mr. Little specializes in trust and estate law. He is a Certified Specialist in Estate Planning, Trust, and Probate... | Read More
Mr. Little specializes in trust and estate law. He is a Certified Specialist in Estate Planning, Trust, and Probate Law. While his practice is focused on estate planning and the administration of trusts and estates, he also has extensive experience in trust and estate litigation. He previously worked as a trust officer in a bank trust department. He presents on estate planning and administration topics. He has published articles on litigating trustee compensation matters in Matthew Bender’s California Trust Litigation and California Forms of Pleading and Practice guides, and on dealing with a deceased debtor in CEB’s Debt Collection Practice guide.
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Jeffrey S. Tachiki
Principal
The Tachiki Law Group
Mr. Tachiki's practice includes estate planning, trust administration, and probate. He is a Certified Specialist in... | Read More
Mr. Tachiki's practice includes estate planning, trust administration, and probate. He is a Certified Specialist in Estate Planning, Trust and Probate Law, State Bar of California, Board of Legal Specialization. He is a regular lecturer on various estate planning and administration topics, and has presented on taxation as well as revocable trusts.
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