General Duties of a Trustee

A Trustee is a fiduciary, bound to follow the terms of the trust and act only for the advantage of the Trust’s beneficiaries. The following is a summary of some of the California statutory duties of a Trustee:1. Duty to administer the Trust in accordance with the terms of the Trust and the law.

2. Duty to be loyal by administering the Trust solely in the interest of the beneficiaries.

3. Duty to deal impartially with the beneficiaries; the Trustee cannot favor one beneficiary at the expense of another.

4. Duty to avoid conflicts of interest.

5. Duty to take control of and preserve Trust property.

6. Duty to make Trust property productive.

7. Duty to keep Trust property separate and identified; the Trustee cannot commingle the Trust property with his or her own property.

8. Duty to enforce claims of the Trust.

9. Duty to defend actions of the Trust.

10. Duty not to delegate the performance of acts that the Trustee can reasonably personally perform. The Trustee has a duty to exercise general supervision over persons to whom matters have been properly delegated.

11. Where there is more than one Trustee, each co-Trustee has a duty to participate in the administration of the Trust and take reasonable steps to prevent a co-Trustee from committing a breach of trust.

12. Duty to apply the full extent of the Trustee’s skills.

13. Duty to report information and account to the beneficiaries.

14. Duty to exercise discretionary powers reasonably.