Trustees Acting Badly

Although we are approaching the one year anniversary of this case, the lesson remains important — that is, trustees owe a duty to treat beneficiaries fairly when setting and charging trustee fees.  In this case, Bank of America agreed to pay millions of dollars to reimburse excessive fees and lost earning power, as well as punitive damages, to thousands of trusts that were systematically overcharged trustee fees from 1974 to 1990 by Security Pacific Bank which Bank of America acquired in 1992.

For more details, see Tom Abate, Bank of America settles old trust suit $33 million payment ends overcharge case, San Francisco Chronicle, Feb. 20, 2004, at B-1.