Why infect the law of trusts with good faith doctrine?

Charles E. Rounds, Jr. - Suffolk University Law School
Contact

The law’s good faith principle has traditionally regulated legal relationships, such as the contractual relationship. Equity’s more intense fiduciary principle has generally regulated equitable relationships, such as the trustee-beneficiary relationship. Now comes the Uniform Trust Code, specifically § 105, and provides that “the terms of a trust prevail over any....[of the Code's provisions]... except…the duty of a trustee to act in good faith…” This provision is “echoed” in § 801 (Duty to Administer Trust). What is one to make of this? The official commentary is devoid of any explanation. Could we be seeing here a stealth retirement of the fiduciary principle when it comes to the regulation of trusteeships? Or is this just a gratuitous muddling and conflating of nomenclature? Charles E. Rounds, Jr., et al. speculate in §8.15.81 of Loring and Rounds: A Trustee’s Handbook, at page 1237 of the 2014 edition. See also § 3.5.3.2(a) [page 182 of the 2014 edition]. Section 8.15.81 is reproduced in its entirety below.

Please see full publication below for more information.

LOADING PDF: If there are any problems, click here to download the file.

DISCLAIMER: Because of the generality of this update, the information provided herein may not be applicable in all situations and should not be acted upon without specific legal advice based on particular situations.

© Charles E. Rounds, Jr. - Suffolk University Law School | Attorney Advertising

Written by:

Charles E. Rounds, Jr. - Suffolk University Law School
Contact
more
less

Charles E. Rounds, Jr. - Suffolk University Law School on:

Reporters on Deadline

"My best business intelligence, in one easy email…"

Your first step to building a free, personalized, morning email brief covering pertinent authors and topics on JD Supra:
*By using the service, you signify your acceptance of JD Supra's Privacy Policy.
Custom Email Digest
- hide
- hide