The trustee’s duty to disclose under Texas law

Frank Messina (Comment Editor, Estate Planning & Community Property Law Journal, Texas Tech University School of Law) has recently published his comment entitled To Affirmatively Disclose Or To Passively Disclose, That Is the Texas Trustee’s Question:  What Duty Of Disclosure Does a Texas Trustee Owe to a Beneficiary?,1 Est. Plan. & Comm. Prop. L.J. 237 (2008).

Here is an abstract of his article:

Recently, as of the 2007 Texas Legislative Session, Texas trustees have been catapulted into a state of confound in regards to their imperative duty of disclosure to a beneficiary.  This state of confound is a result of the Texas Legislature and courts inability to establish a bright-line standard on the proper duty of disclosure.  This has left the trustee reeling in an effort to discern the proper method of disclosure that is warranted to a beneficiary.  If the trustee fails to abide by Texas’s nonexistent standard the trustee may be exposed to a host of unforeseen liability.  This comment will critically discuss the confusion that currently plagues Texas’s disclosure standard, and then will suggest potential solutions to remedy the failing standard as well as practice pointers to avoid liability.