A Loyal Companion…What is a Trustee’s Duty of Loyalty?

[Music] And this Keith Davidson with Albertson and Davidson in this video we're discussing the trustees duty of loyalty the duty of loyalty is one of the most basic and important trustee duties because a trustee is required to be loyal to the trust and what that means is that a trustee cannot take actions that would put the trust or the trust beneficiaries in harm the trustee can't do transactions with the trust or the trust beneficiaries that would be adverse to them the trustee cannot be the trustee of a separate adverse trust who is trying to attack the first trust that their trustee of the trustee cannot be part of a business entity that the trust owns if the business entity is adverse to the trust there's a countless number of examples where a trustee could run afoul of the duty of loyalty by taking a position or an action that's not fair to the trust or fair to the trust beneficiaries it can even happen in litigation if a trustee is being unfair in litigation and attacking a beneficiary in a way that's not appropriate or reasonable on the probate code that could violate the duty of loyalty it's a very important duty and it's one that's so often overlooked by trustees because they just don't understand it but it's right in our own California Probate Code the duty of loyalty so if you're a trustee you really need to make sure that you understand that you must be loyal to your trust and your trust beneficiaries. [Music] [Applause] [Music]