Trustee

“ In agency the property is vested solely in the person on whose behalf the agent acts, but in trusteeship it is vested in the trustee himself, no less than in the beneficiary. A trustee is an agent for the administration of property, who is at the same time the nominal owner of the property so administered by him.
A trust is created by any act or event which separates the trust-ownership of any property from the beneficial ownership of it, and vests them in different persons. ”

“ The general rule is everywhere recognized, that a guardian or trustee, when investing property in his hands, is bound to act honestly and faithfully, and to exercise a sound discretion, such as men of ordinary prudence and intelligence use in their own affairs. ”

“ When an agent contracts in the name of his principal, the principal contracts, and is bound, but the agent is not. When a trustee contracts as such, unless he is bound, no one is bound, for he has no principal. The trust estate cannot promise; the contract is therefore the personal undertaking of the trustee. As a trustee holds the estate, although only with the power and for the purpose of managing it, he is personally bound by the contracts he makes as trustee, even when designating himself as such.'↑ Roger Williams Nat. ”

“ Whenever the beneficial ownership has been encumbered, either by the creator of the trust or by the beneficial owner himself, the trustee holds the property not only on behalf of the beneficial owner but also on behalf of the beneficial encumbrancers. That is to say, the relation of trusteeship exists between the trustee and all persons beneficially interested in the property, either as owners or encumbrancers. ”

“ A trustee is the owner of the property, and any one who seeks a transfer of the legal title of the property must get it from the trustee. Executors have exactly the same powers as administrators, aside from powers that may be expressly given in the will. ”

“ The Public Trustee may be appointed a trustee, an executor, an agent, an attorney, or an administrator of an estate, and he is entitled to act as administrator on his own initiation in cases where persons have died intestate. The good faith of the administration of the department is guaranteed by statute, and the colony is pledged to maintain the integrity of funds obtained from estates and invested by the office. ”

“ If either is to act at all as trustee, each must pursue his or her independent way, with a certainty of differing as to the proper performance of many of the duties of the trust, if not as to all.' 'This unfortunate state of feeling between the trustee and sisters and brother must equally prevent that peaceable intercourse that beneficiaries should enjoy with the party charged with the management of their interests in this considerable estate. ”

“ It is not necessary to express any opinion as to the authority of a trustee to release property conveyed to him at any time, where no such restriction, as in the present case, is in terms placed upon his power. We confine our language to the precise point before us. Here there was no authority on the part of the trustee to execute the deed until payment of the notes was made. ”

“ But as between the trustee and third persons, the fiction prevails. The trustee is clothed with the rights of his beneficiary, and is so enabled to personate or represent him in dealings with the world at large. ”

“ Does a similar relationship exist between a trustee and the intangibles of a trust?
The trustee of today moves freely from state to state. The settlor's residence may be one state, the seat of a trust another state and the trustee or trustees may live in still another jurisdiction or may constantly change their residence. [16] The official life of a trustee is, of course, different from his personal. A trust, this Court has said, is 'an abstraction.' In federal income tax purposes it is sometimes dealt with as though it had a separate existence. ”

“ Paragraph 23 A trustee is a person who has agreed to hold or manage property for someone else's benefit, and anything to do with trusts is within the equity court's jurisdiction. The idea of a corporation is that its directors are trustees for its stockholders, managing the money they paid for their shares for their benefit, so any litigation over corporate affairs is a chancery case. ”

“ Where an allowance is made to trustees for their personal services, it is made with a view to secure greater activity and diligence in the performance of the trust, and to induce persons of reliable character and business capacity to accept the office of trustee. ”

“ In such cases, as in cases where a natural person or a private corporation is the trustee, and the person has died or the corporation has been dissolved, the court will appoint a new trustee, or execute the trust by its own officers or agents. ”

“ Who may be a Trustee or Ccstui que Trust.—The modern trust is considerably more extensive in its operation than the ancient use. Thus the crown and corporations aggregate can be trustees, and personalty can be held in trust. Provision is made by the Municipal Corporations Act, 1882, for the administration of charitable and special trusts by municipal corporations. The crown does not appear to be a trustee to as complete a degree as a subject may be. ”

“ Where a trustee is appointed to carry out the composition or scheme, all the provisions of the act with reference to the remuneration of the trustee, the custody of funds, the audit of his accounts and the control exercised by the Board of Trade apply in the same manner as they would under an adjudication. ”

“ Lawyers abbreviate trustees into trēēs, and a careless copyist will sometimes write trustees for trees, if the crossing of the t is rather long. On looking into a deed, I found a power to cut down and sell trustees by public auction or by private treaty, etc., etc., and I was one of the trustees there. In another trust there were two sums of Consols in the joint names of myself and co-trustee. ”

“ It is a well-settled rule that a trustee can make no profit out of his trust. The rule in such cases springs from his duty to protect the interests of the estate, and not to permit his personal interest to in any wise conflict with his duty in that respect. ”

“ No trustee shall be or remain a trustee and no administrative trustee shall be or remain an administrative trustee unless such trustee shall be and remain a member of the society and cessation of membership of the society shall be a ground of unfitness to act in the trusts for the purposes of s 36 of the Trustee Act, 1925 but no purchaser shall be concerned to see that any person removed from the trusts hereof in accordance with this clause shall have ceased to be a member of the society. ”

“ With respect to the relief and the instructions prayed by the trustee, the court made certain findings as to what had been done in the administration of the estate, confirmed that action, and instructed the trustee as to his further proceedings. ”

“ On such appointment the number of trustees may be increased. Existing trustees may by deed consent to the discharge of a trustee wishing to retire. Trust property may be vested in new or continuing trustees by a simple declaration to that effect. By the Conveyancing Act, 1882, a separate set of trustees may be appointed for any part of the property held on distinct trusts. Trusts created by operation of law are either those which are the effect of the application of rules of equity or those which have been constituted by a judicial authority. ”

“ Aware of the uncertainties of our world, however, the donors directed in Article 3:
'* * * (T) he Trustee shall provide for the support, maintenance and education of our said Grandson, using only the income of said estate for the purpose if it be sufficient. If it be necessary to use any of the corpus of the estate for that purpose and in the judgment of the Trustee it is best to do so, said Trustee may make advancements out of the corpus of said trust estate for such purpose for the benefit of our said Grandson. ”

“ And property thus held, acquired from him by third parties with knowledge of his trust and his disregard of its obligations, can be followed and recovered. The law exacts the most perfect good faith from all parties dealing with a trustee respecting trust property. Whoever takes it for an object other than the general purposes of the trust, or such as may reasonably be supposed to be within its scope, must look to the authority of the trustee, or he will act at his peril. ”

“ A trustee of a charity will often see considerations which the workers in it do not behold, and will be able frequently to judge of its operations from a more comprehensive point of view. The great duty of trustees, of course, should be to rigidly inspect all accounts and to be responsible for the pecuniary integrity of the enterprise. The carrying-out of the especial plan of the association and all the details should be left with one executive officer. ”

“ I. All persons who shall subscribe 2l. 2s. or more per annum, are trustees of this charity: but any trustee or subscriber neglecting to pay his subscription for the space of two years, is no longer deemed a trustee or subscriber, or to have any vote or privilege till his arrears are paid.
II. Every person giving a benefaction of 30l. or upwards, immediately becomes a trustee.
III. Every person who, by will, bequeaths a legacy of 50l. or upwards, may nominate another person, who, immediately after payment of the said legacy, is deemed a trustee. ”

“ The trust analogy extends to a union's handling of grievances. In most cases, a trustee has the exclusive authority to sue third parties who injure the beneficiaries' interest in the trust, 4 Fratcher, supra, § 282, pp. ”

“ While the authority of the trustee depends on the existence of a bankrupt and on the propriety of the proceedings leading to the trustee's appointment, both of which depend on federal law, there are similar federal propositions that may be essential to an action under § 301. ”

“ All trustees shall be elected to hold their office for three years, except those elected to fill a vacancy arising from any cause except expiration of term, who shall be elected for the balance of the term of the trustee whose place they are elected to fill. Every trustee shall hold his office until his successor is elected.
6th. Trustees shall be elected by ballot by the owners of trust certificates or their proxies. ”

“ The principle that a trustee may purchase the trust property at a judicial sale brought about by a third party, which he had taken no part in procuring, and over which he could not have had control, is upheld by numerous decisions of this court and of other courts of this country. ”

“ It is provided that additional trustees may be appointed notwithstanding that there is no vacancy in the office of trustee, and there is provision that a trustee or administrative trustee may resign at any time. ”

“ Here there was a trustee until all the executors died, and the administrator de bonis non cum testamento annexo is the substituted trustee.
In the same year, the United States supreme court, in Beatty v. Kurtz, sustained the dedication of a lot for the Lutheran church in Georgetown, without any deed, grantee, or trustee. 2 Pet. 566-583. And a committee of the congregation was held sufficient to maintain the bill. 584.
A trust may be created by will, to bind the title of the heir or personal representative, and make him a trustee where no other is named. ”

“ A trustee shall derive no personal benefit from the trusteeship. The office cannot be renounced or delegated, because it is one of personal confidence. It can, however, be resigned, and recent legislation, as has been already stated, has given a retiring trustee large powers of appointing a successor. In the case of the death of a single or last surviving trustee of real estate, the trust estate by the Conveyancing Act, 1881, now devolves upon his personal representative instead of upon his heir or devisee. ”

“ When a trust has been created, it is to be held large enough to enable the trustee to accomplish the objects of its creation. If a fee simple estate be necessary, it will be held to exist though no words of limitation be found in the instrument by which the title was passed to the trustee, and the estate created. ”

“ In regard to deeding over your property, no one compels you to do it. I do not compel you to do it, the Trustee in Trust does not, God does not; but He says that if you will do this, that and the other thing which He has counselled for our good, do so, and prove Him. He goes to work and proves us, as we go to work and prove one another under various circumstances. ”

“ The deed of trust securing the payment of the notes was an incident, and accessory to them. The transfer of the notes carried with it to the transferees the benefit of the security. The trustee in such cases, like a mortgagee, is a purchaser for a valuable consideration. ”

“ But the graver objection is that at the time of rendering the decree the court had before it no one representing the office of the executors, or the trust estate devised to them. A trustee who has large powers over the trust estate, and important duties to perform with respect to it, is a necessary party to a suit brought by a stranger to defeat the trust, and often sufficiently represents the beneficiaries. ”

“ A wife and husband, both financially embarrassed, transferred certain land in Indiana to a corporate trustee pursuant to an arrangement whereby the trustee was to advance moneys for their benefit, assist in procuring advances from others, protect the title, ultimately sell the land, use the proceeds in satisfying such mortgages or liens as might be superior to the rights of the trustee and in repaying moneys advanced by it and by others, and turn the residue over to the wife, her personal representatives or assigns. ”