A trustee’s duty to investigate conflicts of interest

Duty to Investigate: Section 2(d) of the UPIA directs, “A trustee shall make a reasonable effort to verify facts relevant to the investment and management of trust assets.” In response to this duty, a prudent trustee will investigate whether any conflicts of interest exist between the trust, the investment advisor, and the investment products or process the advisor has adopted.

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A Trustee’s duty to monitor the risk within the trust portfolio

Duty to Establish Risk Expectations:  Section 2(b) of the Uniform Prudent Investor Act directs that “A trustee’s investment and management decisions respecting individual assets must be evaluated not in isolation but in the context of the trust portfolio as a whole and as a part of an overall investment strategy having risk [expectations] reasonably suited to the…

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Case Study – Modifying Trust Distribution Rates

Last month the Anodos team worked on an interesting investment governance project that we thought you might find elucidating. Facts:  A grantor setup a “Net Income” trust in 1987 for the benefit of their grandchild.  The historic distribution rate from this trust, after all administrative expenses, has been 3.2%. (We know this by reviewing the last…

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A Trustee’s Duty to Independently Monitor Delegates UPIA §9(a)(3)

The Uniform Prudent Investor Act at Section 9(a)(3) directs, “A trustee shall exercise reasonable care, skill and caution by periodically reviewing the agent’s actions in order to monitor the agent’s performance and compliance with the terms of the delegation.” Many trustees implicitly trust the investment advisor to whom they (or their predecessor) delegated investment duties. They…

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