(a) Except as otherwise provided in the contract, a trustee shall not be 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.
will 560x170

Ask a will, trust or estate question, get an answer ASAP!
Thousands of highly rated, verified estate & trust lawyers.
Click here to chat with a lawyer about your rights.

Terms Used In Hawaii Revised Statutes 554D-1010

  • Contract: A legal written agreement that becomes binding when signed.
  • Environmental law: means a federal, state, or local law, rule, regulation, or ordinance relating to protection of the environment. See Hawaii Revised Statutes 554D-103
  • Fiduciary: A trustee, executor, or administrator.
  • Indemnification: In general, a collateral contract or assurance under which one person agrees to secure another person against either anticipated financial losses or potential adverse legal consequences. Source: FDIC
  • Obligation: An order placed, contract awarded, service received, or similar transaction during a given period that will require payments during the same or a future period.
  • Property: means anything that may be the subject of ownership, whether real or personal, legal or equitable, or any interest therein. See Hawaii Revised Statutes 554D-103
  • Tort: A civil wrong or breach of a duty to another person, as outlined by law. A very common tort is negligent operation of a motor vehicle that results in property damage and personal injury in an automobile accident.
  • Trustee: A person or institution holding and administering property in trust.
  • Trustee: includes an original, additional, and successor trustee, and a cotrustee. See Hawaii Revised Statutes 554D-103
(b) A trustee shall be 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.
(c) 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, regardless of whether the trustee is personally liable for the claim.
(d) Any judgment obtained against the trustee in the trustee’s fiduciary capacity may be collected against the trust estate. The questions of liability as between the trust estate and the trustee personally may be determined in a proceeding for accounting, surcharge, or indemnification or other appropriate proceeding.

  Previous
Next  
 Part X Contents