Trustees can breach their duties in many different ways
There are a great number of ways that trustees may act and cause injury to the trust and its beneficiaries. Some examples of trustee misconduct include as follows:
- Making negligent or reckless investment decisions with trust funds;
- Showing partiality to or collusion with certain beneficiaries;
- Failing to keep beneficiaries informed of trust activities;
- Commingling trust and personal funds;
- Unnecessary delegation of trust functions;
- Revealing confidential trust information;
- Misappropriating or stealing trust funds;
- Engaging in self-serving acts involving trust assets;
- Any type of fraudulent dealings involving the trust or beneficiaries; and
- Allowing co-trustees to commit misconduct.
While some forms of misconduct are substantially more serious than others, beneficiaries have the right to challenge any wrongful or negligent act committed by a trustee.
