Co-Trustees

Co-trustees are individuals appointed to manage a trust together. Unless the trust document states otherwise, they must make decisions together and cannot delegate important responsibilities to one another.

Alice and Bob are co-trustees of a trust for their mutual friend Charlie. They decide to sell a piece of property held in the trust, but Bob wants to do it without Alice's consent. Because the trust document does not allow for unilateral action, the sale cannot proceed without both co-trustees agreeing. Therefore, the sale is invalid.

Co-trustees: two heads must think as one!

Exams may present scenarios where one co-trustee acts alone, leading students to mistakenly believe that such actions are permissible without considering the requirement for unanimity.

Questions often involve fact patterns where co-trustees disagree on a decision, testing the candidate's understanding of the need for unanimous action.