What duties does a trustee have?
• Do what the trust document says as long as it is legal; • Do only things that benefit the beneficiaries; • Not favor one beneficiary over another; • Avoid conflicts of interest with the beneficiaries • Never use trust property or the trustee’s powers for personal benefit, unless the trust authorizes it; • Keep trust property separate from property owned by anyone else; • Not delegate to others anything they can reasonably do themselves. If the trustee must delegate some duties, s/he must supervise what the delegated person does; • Administer and invest the assets of the trust with care and skill to protect the trust; • Diversify investments unless it would not be a good idea to do so; • Keep detailed records and give periodic reports to the beneficiaries as required by California law. See Probate Code Sections 16060 – 16064 and Sections 1060 -1064); • Distribute the income as required by Probate Code Sections 16230 -16375.
