A co-trustee must exercise reasonable care to prevent a breach by another trustee and to compel redress of one that occurred. Passive acquiescence in a known breach creates liability.
Dissent must be documented to avoid liability.
Alternative Names:
Cotrustee Liability|Joint Trustee Liability
Why it Matters?
Documented dissent is what protects a co-trustee who disagreed with an action, since silence is treated as concurrence and later objection does not retroactively establish it, which makes contemporaneous written dissent to the other trustees the necessary step. Delegation among co-trustees is permitted for ministerial functions in many states but does not eliminate the oversight obligation for the delegating trustee.
Frequently Confused with
Related terms
Frequently asked questions
How does a co-trustee avoid liability?
Does delegation eliminate oversight?
