Trusts, wills and estate plans are often made up of family members, once designated by the head of the family who may or may not be able to intervene in the day-to-day of these accounts. There could be many reasons for setting up these estate plans, trusts or other form of financial management. It could be because the originator of the estate had a certain plan for their remaining finances. It could be for the tax breaks.
Whatever the motivation behind the trust or similar estate plan, it’s possible that a player in the trust may not be acting accordingly. It’s possible that a trustee could even be negligent in relation to how they access, manage, utilize or oversee the trust. A trustee is a person who is a recipient to the trusts’ funds. They are generally asked to appropriate the trust funds in a certain or specific way.
So how does one allege negligence by a trustee? Because negligence is a personal injury claim, it doesn’t take into account criminal requirements. Rather, the threshold for proving negligence is lower. If the trustee owed a duty to the trust, that was breached, it caused damages, not due to something else other players who suffered losses due the actions of the trustee can seek damages.
A trustee could have acted inappropriately or note in accordance with the trust regulations. If this cost the trust money, the people negatively affected can allege negligence. Sometimes it isn’t intentional, a mistake on behalf of the trustee. Either way, damages and losses can result.