When a settlor appoints several trustees, the law assumes they were chosen to act together and to do the job themselves. That shapes everything a solicitor advises on: a single decision can be invalid if one trustee dissents, and a trustee who quietly leaves the work to others is not off the hook — they are in breach. Understanding these structural duties is the foundation for spotting when a trustee has gone wrong, what a beneficiary can claim, and how a trustee can defend.
This lesson walks you from the duties themselves through to the consequences when they are broken.
- Core Duties and Breach — the duties to act unanimously and personally, the rule against fettering discretion, and why passive trustees are liable too.
- Delegation — how statute relaxes the strict no-delegation rule, what can and cannot be delegated, and the duties that survive delegation.
- Breach of Trust Claim — the elements a claimant must establish, the primary remedy of restoring the fund, and contribution between co-trustees.
- Defences and Limitation — exemption clauses, court relief, beneficiary consent, and when (and whether) the limitation clock runs.
- Removal of Trustees — the court's powers to remove a trustee and the beneficiaries' welfare as the guiding concern.