Преемник-управляющий в Колорадо

What "successor trustee" means in Colorado

Most Colorado revocable trusts name the settlor as the first trustee and then name one or more successors: the person or institution who steps in when the settlor can no longer act, and who administers the trust after the settlor's death. Colorado enacted the Uniform Trust Code as Article 5 of Title 15 — the Colorado Uniform Trust Code — and it governs the trust's administration except where the trust's own terms provide otherwise and the code allows them to (C.R.S. §15-5-105).

Whether a trust is revocable is the first thing a successor reads. Unless a trust's terms expressly provide that it is irrevocable, the settlor may revoke or amend it — for a trust created under an instrument executed on or after August 7, 2013 (C.R.S. §15-5-602). While a trust is revocable, the beneficiaries' rights are subject to the settlor's control and the trustee's duties are owed to the settlor alone (C.R.S. §15-5-603).

Taking office: accepting, declining, and preserving

A person named as trustee accepts the trusteeship by substantially complying with a method of acceptance the trust's terms provide — often signing an acceptance — or, where the terms provide no method or the method is not expressly exclusive, by accepting delivery of the trust property, exercising powers or performing duties as trustee, or otherwise indicating acceptance (C.R.S. §15-5-701(1)). The date matters: Colorado counts the acceptance notice's 60 days from it.

A named trustee who has not accepted may reject the trusteeship, and one who does not accept within a reasonable time after knowing of the designation is treated as having rejected it (C.R.S. §15-5-701(2)). Without accepting, a named trustee may act to preserve the trust property, so long as a rejection is sent within a reasonable time afterward, and may inspect the property to assess environmental or other liability (C.R.S. §15-5-701(3)).

Two beginnings and two notices

A successor trusteeship usually begins in one of two ways. When the settlor can no longer manage the trust, the trust's own incapacity clause says how the successor takes over — often a physician's letter — and the trust stays revocable; the trustee's duties are owed to the settlor (C.R.S. §15-5-603). When the settlor dies, a revocable trust becomes irrevocable and the administration takes on its clocks.

Colorado's statute provides for two notices to the qualified beneficiaries, each with its own 60-day clock. Within 60 days after accepting the trusteeship, the trustee notifies them of the acceptance and of the trustee's name, address and telephone number (C.R.S. §15-5-813(2)(b)). Within 60 days after learning that the trust has become irrevocable — by the settlor's death or otherwise — the trustee notifies them of the trust's existence, the settlor's identity, and their rights to request the portions of the instrument that describe or affect their interest and to receive a trustee's report (C.R.S. §15-5-813(2)(c)).

The statute qualifies both notices. Neither applies to a trustee who accepted, or a trust that was created irrevocable or became irrevocable, before January 1, 2019 (C.R.S. §15-5-813(5)). Who the qualified beneficiaries are depends on the trust's terms (C.R.S. §15-5-103(16)), and while a trust's terms may narrow some notices, they cannot remove these for current distributees at any age or for other qualified beneficiaries who are 25 or older (C.R.S. §15-5-105(2)(h)). Banks, brokerages and title companies usually ask for proof of authority rather than the trust itself; Colorado lets a trustee give them a certification of trust stating the facts the statute lists (C.R.S. §15-5-1013).

The duties that come with the role

The Colorado Uniform Trust Code states a trustee's duties section by section. A successor who has read these once will recognize most later questions as one of them.

• Administer the trust in good faith, in accordance with its terms and purposes and the interests of the beneficiaries (C.R.S. §15-5-801).
• Act solely in the beneficiaries' interests: a transaction affected by a conflict between your personal and fiduciary interests can be undone by an affected beneficiary unless an exception applies (C.R.S. §15-5-802).
• Act impartially among beneficiaries with different interests (C.R.S. §15-5-803), and administer the trust as a prudent person would, with reasonable care, skill and caution (C.R.S. §15-5-804).
• Take reasonable steps to take control of and protect the trust property (C.R.S. §15-5-809), and within a reasonable time review the assets and decide what to keep (C.R.S. §15-1.1-104).
• Keep adequate records, keep trust property separate from your own, and have it designated as the trust's where feasible (C.R.S. §15-5-810).
• Keep the qualified beneficiaries reasonably informed and respond promptly to their requests, and send a report at least annually and at termination (C.R.S. §15-5-813).
• Delegate only as a prudent trustee of comparable skills would, with care in choosing and monitoring the agent (C.R.S. §15-5-807).
• A trustee who is also a beneficiary (other than the settlor) makes discretionary distributions to themselves only under an ascertainable standard, unless the terms expressly provide otherwise (C.R.S. §15-5-814(2)).

First steps before acting

Whatever the beginning, the first steps look alike: find and read the trust and every amendment; decide in writing whether you will serve; take control of and protect the trust property (C.R.S. §15-5-809); review the assets (C.R.S. §15-1.1-104); obtain the trust's own tax identification number and open its own account, keeping it separate (C.R.S. §15-5-810); record the dates the two notices count from; and write down what you did, when, and why. A trust holds only what was transferred to it, so the asset review also shows what passes outside the trust — by beneficiary designation, joint ownership, a beneficiary deed (C.R.S. §15-15-402), or the probate estate.

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Cotrustees, professional help, and delegation

When the trust names cotrustees, Colorado's default is that cotrustees who cannot agree unanimously may act by majority; each participates unless unavailable or properly delegated, and each uses reasonable care to prevent a cotrustee's serious breach of trust. A trustee who dissents and notifies the others, and then joins at the majority's direction, is not liable for the action unless it is a serious breach (C.R.S. §15-5-703).

A trustee is not expected to be an accountant, an appraiser or a lawyer. A trustee may delegate what a prudent trustee of comparable skills could properly delegate, and one who uses reasonable care in selecting, instructing and reviewing the agent is not liable for the agent's decisions (C.R.S. §15-5-807). A fiduciary's lawyer is entitled to reasonable compensation for services to the estate (C.R.S. §15-10-602), and a trustee is reimbursed from the trust for expenses properly incurred (C.R.S. §15-5-709).

Resigning, being removed, and the vacancy

A Colorado trustee may resign on at least 30 days' notice to the qualified beneficiaries, the settlor if living and all cotrustees, or with the court's approval; resigning does not discharge liability for acts or omissions while serving (C.R.S. §15-5-705). Until the property reaches a successor, a trustee who has resigned or been removed keeps a trustee's duties and the powers needed to protect it, and delivers it expeditiously (C.R.S. §15-5-707).

The settlor, a cotrustee or a beneficiary may ask the court to remove a trustee, and the court may remove one for a serious breach of trust, a lack of cooperation among cotrustees that substantially impairs the administration, unfitness or a persistent failure to administer effectively, or a substantial change of circumstances, as the statute sets out (C.R.S. §15-5-706). On a vacancy with no cotrustee remaining, the former trustee — or a personal representative, conservator or guardian for one who died or is incapacitated — sends the qualified beneficiaries a report (C.R.S. §15-5-813(3)(b)).

Compensation, reports, and the ways trustees get into trouble

Where the trust's terms do not set it, a Colorado trustee is entitled to reasonable compensation (C.R.S. §15-5-708), weighed by factors a court considers — among them the time, labor and skill required and the nature and size of the estate (C.R.S. §15-10-603). Colorado has no fee schedule. The trustee notifies the qualified beneficiaries in advance of any change in the method or rate of compensation (C.R.S. §15-5-813(2)(d)), and every report shows its source and amount (C.R.S. §15-5-813(3)).

Reports also do legal work: a beneficiary may not begin a proceeding for breach of trust more than one year after being sent a report that adequately disclosed the potential claim and told the beneficiary the time allowed; otherwise the period is three years after the first of the trustee's removal or resignation, the end of the beneficiary's interest, or the trust's termination (C.R.S. §15-5-1005). Most trouble starts the same way: commingling, a transaction with oneself or one's family (C.R.S. §15-5-802), an unanswered request, a missed notice, or a decision made without a record.

When a licensed Colorado attorney is the right next call

TrusteeClear organizes the record and, for a trustee using it directly, places the trustee's own facts into the blanks of the two notices and the certification of trust; it does not give legal advice, review a trust, or decide for you whether a notice applies or who receives it. Many successor trustees bring the record to a licensed Colorado attorney of their choosing before a discretionary distribution to themselves, a sale to a family member, a resignation, a dispute among beneficiaries, a decanting (C.R.S. §15-16-907) or a court proceeding — the points where the answer turns on the trust's words and the facts rather than on a general rule.