Trustee's Obligation to Inform Beneficiaries: Avoiding Breach of Fiduciary Duty Claims

Reconciling Discrepancies Between Trust Document and State Law, Navigating State Statutes and UTC Provisions

Recording of a 90-minute CLE video webinar with Q&A

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Conducted on Tuesday, November 16, 2021

Recorded event now available

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Course Materials

This CLE webinar will provide estate planning counsel and advisers with a thorough and practical guide to navigating trustees' duties to inform beneficiaries and report trust existence and performance. The panel will address the essential obligations that advisers to fiduciaries need to grasp and meet to avoid liability and defend against beneficiary claims.

Description

A critical obligation for trustees of irrevocable trusts is the duty to inform beneficiaries of the trust's existence and activities. Trustees often face beneficiary claims of breach of fiduciary duty for failure to comply with these responsibilities. Inconsistencies between the trust document and the applicable state law frequently complicate compliance. Fiduciaries and their advisers can avoid liability by thoroughly understanding the critical components of a trustee's duty to inform.

While there is no uniform standard governing trustees' duty to inform, virtually every state imposes a fiduciary duty on trustees to provide certain information to trust beneficiaries. Most states require trustees to offer regular trust accountings to some or all current beneficiaries. Additionally, states have long recognized the right of beneficiaries to receive information on request.

Many states' trust statutes will not relieve the trustee of the duty to inform, even if it is waived in the trust instrument, except in limited circumstances. Because of variances among the states in the scope of the applicable duty to inform, trustees and their advisers should have a solid grasp of these fiduciary duties to avoid unexpected liability.

Listen as our panel of authoritative presenters provides estate planning and trust counsel with practical guidance for understanding and complying with trustees' duties to provide information to beneficiaries, report trust existence and performance, and meet critical obligations to avoid liability and defend against beneficiary claims.

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Outline

  1. The trustee's duty to inform and the beneficiary's right to information
    1. At common law
    2. Under the Uniform Trust Code
  2. The trustee's duty to account and responding to requests for accountings
  3. Silent or quiet trusts
    1. Silencing a noisy trust
    2. Creating a silent trust from scratch
  4. Avoiding claims for breach of the fiduciary duty to inform

Benefits

The panel will review these and other relevant issues:

  • What disclosures are trustees almost always required to make to beneficiaries?
  • What are the Uniform Trust Code provisions for required disclosures?
  • What trust document provisions limiting a trustee's duty to disclose and report will be honored in most common law or non-UTC jurisdictions? Under the UTC?
  • How can a trustee utilize voluntary disclosures for additional protection against breach of fiduciary duty claims for failure to report?

Faculty

Johnson, David
David Fowler Johnson
Managing Shareholder/Fort Worth Office
Winstead

Mr. Johnson maintains an active trial and appellate practice and has consistently worked on financial institution...  |  Read More

Rahn, Scott
Scott E. Rahn
Founder and Managing Partner
RMO

Mr. Rahn represents heirs, beneficiaries, trustees and executors. He utilizes his experience to develop and implement...  |  Read More

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