§ 15-5-1010 — Limitation on personal liability of trustee

Colorado § 15-5-1010

• Jurisdiction: Colorado
• Title 15: Probate,
• Art.: Colorado Uniform Trust Code

Text

(1) Except as
otherwise provided in the contract, a trustee is not personally liable on a contract
properly entered into in the trustee's fiduciary capacity in the course of
administering the trust if the trustee in the contract disclosed the fiduciary
capacity.

(2) A trustee is personally liable for torts committed in the course of
administering a trust, or for obligations arising from ownership or control of trust
property, including liability for violation of environmental law, only if the trustee is
personally at fault.

(3) A claim based on a contract entered into by a trustee in the trustee's
fiduciary capacity, on an obligation arising from ownership or control of trust
property, or on a tort committed in the course of administering a trust, may be
asserted in a judicial proceeding against the trustee in the trustee's fiduciary
capacity, whether or not the trustee is personally liable for the claim.

(4) The question of liability as between the trust estate and the trustee
individually may be determined:

(a) In a proceeding pursuant to section 15-10-504;

(b) In a proceeding for accounting, surcharge, indemnification, sanctions, or
removal; or

(c) In other appropriate proceedings.

(5) A trustee is not personally liable for making a distribution of property
that does not take into consideration the possible birth of a posthumously
conceived child unless, prior to the distribution, the trustee received notice or
acquired actual knowledge that:

(a) There is or may be an intention to use an individual's genetic material to
create a child; and

(b) The birth of the child could affect the distribution of the trust assets.

(6) If a trustee has reviewed the records of the county clerk and recorder in
every county in Colorado in which the trustee has actual knowledge that the
decedent was domiciled at any time during the three years prior to the decedent's
death and the trustee does not have actual notice or actual knowledge of the
existence of a valid, unrevoked designated beneficiary agreement in which the
decedent granted the right of intestate succession, the trustee is not individually
liable for distributions made to devisees or heirs at law that do not take into
consideration the designated beneficiary agreement.

Legislative History

Source: L. 2018: Entire article added, (SB 18-180), ch. 169, p. 1186, � 1, effective January 1, 2019.