One of the critical duties of a trustee traditionally has been to defend his trust against internal attacks. By that I mean to defend the trust against those who, in contravention of the settlor’s intentions as expressed in the terms of the trust, would seek to alter its terms, or even have the trust terminated altogether. This duty to defend is taken up in §6.2.6 of Loring and Rounds: A Trustee’s Handbook (2014), excerpted below and modified, and should not be confused with the trustee’s duty to defend the trust from external attacks against the trust property, such as from creditors whose claims are unwarranted. That duty is addressed in § 809 of the Code and §6.2.1.3 of the Handbook.
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