The Appointment, Retirement, and Removal of Trustees

• Author: EILEEN E. GILLESE
• Pages: 147-153

147

CHAPTER 8

THE APPOINTMENT,

RETIREMENT, AND

REMOVAL OF TRUSTEES

A. INTRODUCTION

Trusts must be continuously administered: there can be no hiatus in

the administration of a trust. At all times there must be a trustee, or

someone that the law designates as standing in his or her stead, with

responsibility for the administration of a trust. This simple legal re-

quirement is the underpinning of the operation of the law as it relates

to the appointment, retirement, and removal of trustees.

Apart from knowing this basic requirement, it is useful to under-

stand something of the circumstances in which trustees are appointed,

can retire, or can be removed, as well as the legal strictures governing

such activities. This chapter begins with an examination of how and

when trustees are appointed. It differentiates between non-judicial ap-

pointments and appointments made by the courts, and between the

appointment of new trustees and substitutionary ones. Thereafter, it

discusse s the conditions under which a trustee may retire. The chapter

concludes with a discus sion of the circum stances in which trustees can

be removed from off‌ice.