About the Course
Introduction
This CLE webinar will provide estate planning counsel and advisers with a thorough and practical guide to navigating trustees' duties to inform beneficiaries and report trust existence and performance. The panel will address the essential obligations that advisers to fiduciaries need to grasp and meet to avoid liability and defend against beneficiary claims.
Description
A critical obligation for trustees of irrevocable trusts is the duty to inform beneficiaries of the trust's existence and activities. Trustees often face beneficiary claims of breach of fiduciary duty for failure to comply with these responsibilities. Inconsistencies between the trust document and the applicable state law frequently complicate compliance. Fiduciaries and their advisers can avoid liability by thoroughly understanding the critical components of a trustee's duty to inform.
While there is no uniform standard governing trustees' duty to inform, virtually every state imposes a fiduciary duty on trustees to provide certain information to trust beneficiaries. Most states require trustees to offer regular trust accountings to some or all current beneficiaries. Additionally, states have long recognized the right of beneficiaries to receive information on request.
Many states' trust statutes will not relieve the trustee of the duty to inform, even if it is waived in the trust instrument, except in limited circumstances. Because of variances among the states in the scope of the applicable duty to inform, trustees and their advisers should have a solid grasp of these fiduciary duties to avoid unexpected liability.
Listen as our panel of authoritative presenters provides estate planning and trust counsel with practical guidance for understanding and complying with trustees' duties to provide information to beneficiaries, report trust existence and performance, and meet critical obligations to avoid liability and defend against beneficiary claims.
Presented By
Mr. Johnson is widely recognized as one of the go-to fiduciary litigators in Texas. His practice focuses on trust, estate, and closely held business disputes. A frequent writer and speaker, Mr. Johnson is known around the state as a thought leader in the fiduciary area. His award-winning blog, The Fiduciary Litigator, features recent case law, legislative changes, and other precedent that impacts fiduciaries in Texas. Mr. Johnson received the JD Supra 2020 Readers’ Choice Award for Wealth Management, which was his third year in a row for such an award. He was also named a “Go-To Thought Leader” in Fiduciary Litigation by the National Law Review in 2020. Mr. Johnson's experience in trust and estate disputes includes will contests, elder abuse, mental competency, undue influence, trust modification/reformation/clarification, breach of fiduciary duty and related claims. He also handles matters involving trust decanting, trust severance and joinder, account disputes, power of attorney disputes, suits for judicial instruction and discharges, heirship proceedings, suits to remove a fiduciary, and accountings. Additionally, Mr. Johnson has a transactional practice for trust departments in providing legal opinions on the construction of trust documents, documenting release and consent agreements, resignations, successor appointments, modification of trusts, trust mergers, trust severances, etc.
Mr. Rahn resolves contests, disputes and litigation related to trusts, estates and conservatorships, creating a welcome peace of mind for clients. He represents heirs, beneficiaries, trustees and executors. Mr. Rahn utilizes his experience to develop and implement strategies that swiftly and efficiently address the financial issues, fiduciary duties and emotional complexities underlying trust contests, estates conflicts and probate litigation. In 2026, he was featured in USA TODAY discussing the rise in inheritance disputes as wealth transfers between generations, emphasizing that effective planning requires not only legal and tax strategies, but also clear communication to protect both assets and family relationships. Mr. Rahn was also quoted in CNBC on the growing trend of “givers’ regret” among high-net-worth families. He noted that disputes over prior wealth transfers often reflect deeper family dynamics, where experienced trust and estate litigators can help guide families toward resolution.
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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, May 5, 2026
- schedule
1:00 p.m. ET./10:00 a.m. PT
I. The trustee's duty to inform and the beneficiary's right to information
A. At common law
B. Under the Uniform Trust Code
II. The trustee's duty to account and respond to requests for accountings
III. Silent or quiet trusts
A. Silencing a noisy trust
B. Creating a silent trust from scratch
IV. Avoiding claims for breach of the fiduciary duty to inform
The panel will review these and other relevant issues:
- What disclosures are trustees almost always required to make to beneficiaries?
- What are the Uniform Trust Code provisions for required disclosures?
- What trust document provisions limiting a trustee's duty to disclose and report will be honored in most common law or non-UTC jurisdictions? Under the UTC?
- How can a trustee utilize voluntary disclosures for additional protection against breach of fiduciary duty claims for failure to report?
