2018 Colorado Revised Statutes
Title 15 - Probate, Trusts, and Fiduciaries
Colorado Probate Code
Article 16 - Trust Administration
Part 3 - Duties and Liabilities of Trustees
§ 15-16-306. Personal liability of trustee to third parties
(1) Unless otherwise provided in the contract, a trustee is not personally liable on contracts properly entered into in his fiduciary capacity in the course of administration of the trust estate unless he fails to reveal his representative capacity and identify the trust estate in the contract.
(2) A trustee is personally liable for obligations arising from ownership or control of property of the trust estate or for torts committed in the course of administration of the trust estate only if he is personally at fault.
(3) Claims based on contracts entered into by a trustee in his fiduciary capacity, on obligations arising from ownership or control of the trust estate, or on torts committed in the course of trust administration, may be asserted against the trust estate by proceeding against the trustee in his fiduciary capacity, whether or not the trustee is personally liable therefor.
(4) The question of liability as between the trust estate and the trustee individually may be determined:
(a) In a proceeding pursuant to section 15-10-504;
(b) In a proceeding for accounting, surcharge, indemnification, sanctions, or removal; or
(c) In other appropriate proceedings.
(5) and (6) Repealed.
(7) A trustee is not personally liable for making a distribution of property that does not take into consideration the possible birth of a posthumously conceived child unless, prior to the distribution, the trustee received notice or acquired actual knowledge that:
(a) There is or may be an intention to use an individual's genetic material to create a child; and
(b) The birth of the child could affect the distribution of the trust assets.
(8) If a trustee has reviewed the records of the county clerk and recorder in every county in Colorado in which the trustee has actual knowledge that the decedent was domiciled at any time during the three years prior to the decedent's death and the trustee does not have actual notice or actual knowledge of the existence of a valid, unrevoked designated beneficiary agreement in which the decedent granted the right of intestate succession, the trustee shall not be individually liable for distributions made to devisees or heirs at law that do not take into consideration the designated beneficiary agreement.
