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If you have been appointed as a co-trustee of someone's trust, you are placed in a fiduciary relationship to the Trust, which includes the responsibility to cooperate with the other appointed co-trustee.
You should review your trust documents to see whether co-trustees must make all decisions together or whether they have leeway to make certain decisions on their own. Usually for matters that require signing or opening or closing of accounts, both co-trustees must agree but a single trustee is permitted to act. If both are required to make the decisions or if you hit a roadblock that requires both trustees consent, what do you do if the other co-trustee is not cooperating? First, you should remind the non cooperating party that even though this is a tough undertaking, the person nominating you both as co-trustees wished you to cooperate together. This is also important as you are respecting their wishes. Additionally, there is usually a provision for "reasonable fee" or something of the sort permitting the trustee to charge the trust for reasonable time and expenses in having to cooperate with you. Some financial incentive may change their perception of their responsibilities. Second, if the above doesn't work, you should remind them that they may be in breach of their fiduciary obligations to the trust. This breach is significant since one may be liable for breaching their fiduciary duties to the trust. Third, you may send them a demand letter, to cooperate and to notify them that you may have to take legal action, on behalf of the trust, to seek to remove them if they are in breach of their duties. Finally, you may have to file for arbitration or file a lawsuit to remove the trustee from the trust. This is a complicated process and may be avoided if the trustee resigns altogether and relinquishes their duties or has a change of mind. For more questions, please ask our attorneys at: www.forwardestateplanning.com/ Comments are closed.
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