The Trustee Act, 2009

The Trustee Act, 2009 sets out the rules a trustee, executor or administrator must follow in administering a trust.

A trust means that one person (the trustee) is under a duty to deal with property he or she has control of for the benefit of some other person or class of persons (beneficiary or beneficiaries).

The Trustee Act, 2009:

• is modernized to reflect current trustee practices and principles;
• establishes an explicit duty of care for trustees, and distinguishes between the standard of care for non-professional and professional trustees;
• provides that trustees must not be in a conflict of interest;
• makes non-judicial appointment and removal of a trustee a practical alternative to a court application;
• authorizes trustees to invest in any form of property in which a reasonable, prudent person might invest;
• provides that trustees have the necessary administrative powers to manage trust property on behalf of beneficiaries, including the ability to:
  • improve, maintain and repair trust property;
  • purchase a dwelling for beneficiaries; and
  • insure trust property;
• abolishes the rules against perpetuities; and
• amends a number of other statutes that adopt the principles of the former Act to refer to the new Act.