What are the duties of trustees?

• A. To act within the scope of their powers, to protect the trust property, to invest the trust property, to act impartially between the trustees, to keep accounts, not to profit from the trust property and not to purchase the trust property.
• B. To maximize personal benefit from the trust.
• C. To ignore investment of property.
• D. To always operate in the best interests of the settlor only.

Answer: (A)

Trustees act as fiduciaries on behalf of the beneficiaries, so their duties are to administer the trust within the powers given, protect the trust property, and manage it properly. They must invest the trust property prudently, keep clear accounts, and avoid personal gain from the trust or using the trust to purchase the property for themselves. They also have to act impartially between beneficiaries, making decisions that don’t favour one over another unless the trust terms specify otherwise. These obligations ensure the trust is managed for the benefit of those entitled to it and in line with the trust instrument.

The other options clash with this framework: pursuing personal benefit contradicts the fiduciary duty to beneficiaries; ignoring investment neglects the duty to invest prudently; and always acting for the settlor’s interests would ignore the beneficiaries’ rights and the purpose of the trust itself.