Trustee Liability Issues – Offshore - Discussion Paper

INTRODUCTION

A trustee can be faced with many forms of liability including liabilities to third parties, contractual liabilities, liabilities in tort and liabilities as a titleholder (e.g. shareholder or owner or land). But perhaps one of the biggest concerns to trustees is potential liability to beneficiaries for breaches of trust. In order to fully appreciate the extent to which trustees may face liability for breaches of trust it is important to understand the duties of trustees.

TRUSTEE DUTIES

Trustee duties are obligations contained in the trust instrument or imposed by common law or statute, which must be carried out by the trustees. In the Channel Islands (unlike other offshore jurisdictions) generally trustee duties are imposed by statute.