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A School of the Academy

School of Trust Law & Fiduciary Administration

Department of Equity & Fiduciary Studies

Trusts, trustees, beneficiaries, and the duties of fiduciaries.

§ I

Introduction

Scope of Study

Trust Law & Fiduciary Administration

The duties of a fiduciary are not opinion. They arise from the trust instrument, the governing statutes, and centuries of equity. The School studies each in turn, from the four corners of the instrument outward.

§ II

Philosophy of the School

On how this School reads.

A trust is a written instrument administered against settled rules of equity. The School reads the instrument first, the governing code second, and the cases that construe both as commentary. Loyalty, prudence, and impartiality are not slogans; they are duties whose contours have been worked out by courts of equity over generations.

§ III

What Students Will Study

The commitments of the School.

A School commits to a set of questions and to a method of reading them. The following are the working commitments of this department.

  1. 01

    How an express trust is created and what disturbs it

  2. 02

    The duties owed by trustees and the standards by which they are measured

  3. 03

    The powers a settlor may grant, withhold, or reserve

  4. 04

    The administration of a trust through its ordinary life

  5. 05

    The remedies available when a duty is breached

§ IV

Curriculum

The syllabus.

The syllabus is read in sequence. Foundations are not optional; advanced study presumes them.

Foundations

  1. 01

    The instrument, the settlor, the trustee, the beneficiary

  2. 02

    Intent, res, and the certainty requirements

  3. 03

    Revocable and irrevocable trusts compared

Intermediate Study

  1. 01

    The duty of loyalty and self-dealing transactions

  2. 02

    The prudent investor rule and modern portfolio theory

  3. 03

    Discretionary distributions and ascertainable standards

Advanced Study

  1. 01

    Trustee removal, resignation, and successor appointment

  2. 02

    Modification, reformation, and decanting

  3. 03

    Creditor claims and spendthrift provisions

Research & Method

  1. 01

    Reading a trust instrument against the governing code

  2. 02

    Surveying state variations on the Uniform Trust Code

  3. 03

    Tracing the equitable origins of a modern doctrine

Reference Materials

  1. 01

    Uniform Trust Code, with official commentary

  2. 02

    Restatement (Third) of Trusts

  3. 03

    Scott and Ascher on Trusts

Suggested Reading

  1. 01

    Bogert, The Law of Trusts and Trustees

  2. 02

    Langbein, The Contractarian Basis of the Law of Trusts (1995)

§ V

Learning Outcomes

The capacities a member should leave with.

Outcomes are stated as capacities, not credentials. They describe what a member should be able to do after sustained reading.

  1. 01

    Read a trust instrument with attention to the powers it grants and withholds

  2. 02

    Identify the duties a trustee owes and the standards by which performance is judged

  3. 03

    Trace a fiduciary question from instrument to statute to controlling case

§ VI

Primary Authorities

The texts the School takes seriously.

Authorities are listed by category. Entries marked in preparation are catalogued and reviewed before they enter the working record.

Statutes

2 entries

  • Authority

    Uniform Trust Code (2000, as amended)

  • Authority

    State enactments of the Uniform Trust Code

Judicial Opinions

1 entry

  • In Preparation

    Forthcoming — catalogue in preparation

Treatises & Restatements

3 entries

  • Authority

    Restatement (Third) of Trusts

  • Authority

    Scott and Ascher on Trusts

  • Authority

    Bogert, The Law of Trusts and Trustees

§ VII

Featured Publications

From the press of the institution.

The following volumes are drawn from, or supply, the work of this School. Each is reviewed by faculty before publication.

The Society Press

All publications →

§ VIII

Research in the Library

Where this School reads.

The divisions below carry the primary materials this School draws on. The catalogue opens in stages as the index is reviewed.

  • Library Division

    Statutes

    Codified federal and state statutory law, organized by title and chapter.

  • Library Division

    Judicial Opinions

    Selected opinions of the federal and state courts of record.

  • Library Division

    Treatises

    Restatements, hornbooks, and reference works of accepted authority.

Catalogue · XI Divisions

Enter the Research Library →

§ IX

Related Schools

Departments that read alongside this one.

Doctrine does not respect departmental boundaries. The following Schools take up adjacent questions.

Admission

Join the founding cohort of the Trust Law & Fiduciary Administration department.

All Founding Members are admitted into every School. Tuition and dues are not yet open.

Submit an ApplicationReturn to the Academy →
The Real Law Society · Est. MMXXVRead Law. Not Lore.Vol. I — Folio I