About the Course
Introduction
This CLE course will provide estate planning counsel and fiduciary advisers with a thorough and practical guide to protecting successor trustees from liability for breach of fiduciary duty by a preceding trustee or executor. The panel will describe the general rules binding successor trustees and detail various states' approaches that limit or expand those duties. The panel will discuss structuring and administrative tools to protect successor trustees from claims arising from prior acts.
Description
A challenge for estate planners and advisers in selecting a successor trustee is the liability a successor inherits due to predecessor trustee error. While the law generally holds that a successor trustee is not liable for a predecessor's breach of duty, states impose varying obligations on successors to discover preexisting breaches and duties to remedy those conditions that the successor trustee "knows or should know" exist.
Estate planners and fiduciaries need to understand how to protect successor trustees from liability if the successor fails to address a breach caused by a prior fiduciary. Trust drafters should be prepared to include exculpatory language and provisions in the trust document outlining the successor trustee's obligations when taking the fiduciary role.
Additionally, there are administrative remedies, including ordering a trust accounting and having any prior accounting reviewed, that can proactively address a duty to discover errors that could support a breach of duty claim. Successor trustees may also decant a trust if a prior administrator made an actionable error.
Listen as our experienced panel provides a thorough, practical guide to helping estate planners and trust advisers navigate the challenges of avoiding successor trustee liability for preexisting errors in trust administration.
Presented By
Mr. Bourque serves as Managing Partner of RMO LLP’s Dallas and Houston offices. He focuses his practice on representing heirs, beneficiaries, fiduciaries, creditors, and other interested parties in contested probate, trust, guardianship, and financial elder abuse cases. Mr. Bourque primarily handles probate litigation matters including will contests, fiduciary litigation to recover misfunded, misapplied or misappropriated estate and trust funds, community property claims, executor and trustee removal proceedings, compelled distribution of estate and trust assets, trust accounting lawsuits, competing applications for guardianship, and establishment of common-law marriage and adoption-by-estoppel. He also has significant experience handling commercial litigation incidental to probate matters.
Mr. Fair's practice focuses on in the area of general commercial litigation, with an emphasis on complex probate, trust, and fiduciary litigation. He represents executors, trustees, and beneficiaries in will contests, disputes over will and trust interpretation, removal actions, and fiduciary-liability actions. Mr. Fair also handles cases involving real-estate brokerage contracts, corporate governance, bankruptcy, and construction contracts. He has been selected by his peers as among the Best Lawyers in America® in the category of Trusts and Estates Litigation.
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This 90-minute webinar is eligible in most states for 1.5 CLE credits.
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Date + Time
- event
Tuesday, November 3, 2026
- schedule
1:00 PM ET/10:00 AM PT
I. Identifying successor trustees
II. Liability exposure of successor trustees for acts or omissions by prior fiduciaries
III. State approaches to successor trustee duties
IV. Drafting tools to minimize successor trustee liability
V. Administrative tools after successor trustee is appointed
The panel will review these and other key issues:
- What actions are required of successor trustees to identify possible breach of trust duties by prior fiduciaries?
- Which states impose stricter requirements on successor trustees? Which states have more lenient standards?
- What provisions can estate planners and trust drafters include in the trust agreement to protect successor trustees?
- What administrative steps are available to minimize successor trustees' liability exposure?
Related Courses
Mitigating Successor Trustee Liability for Prior Fiduciary Breach: Trust Structure and Administrative Tools
Tuesday, November 3, 2026
1:00 PM ET/10:00 AM PT
