Colorado Code
Part 4 - Uniform Principal and Income Act
§ 15-1-403. Fiduciary Duties - General Principles

Source: L. 2000: Entire part R&RE, p. 1129, § 1, effective July 1, 2001. L. 2009: Entire section amended, (HB 09-1241), ch. 169, p. 742, § 2, effective April 22.
Prior Act. The rule in Section 2(a) of the 1962 Uniform Act is restated in Section 15-1-403 (1), without changing its substance, to emphasize that the Act contains only default rules and that provisions in the terms of the trust are paramount. However, Section 2(a) of the 1962 Uniform Act applies only to the allocation of receipts and disbursements to or between principal and income. In this Act, the first sentence of Section 15-1-403 (1) states that it also applies to matters within the scope of sections 15-1-406 to 15-1-410. Section 15-1-403 (1)(b) incorporates the rule in Section 2(b) of the 1962 Uniform Act that a discretionary allocation made by the trustee that is contrary to a rule in the Act should not give rise to an inference of imprudence or partiality by the trustee.
The Act deletes the language that appears at the end of 1962 Uniform Act Section 2(a)(3) -- "and in view of the manner in which men of ordinary prudence, discretion and judgment would act in the management of their affairs" -- because persons of ordinary prudence, discretion and judgment, acting in the management of their own affairs do not normally think in terms of the interests of successive beneficiaries. If there is an analogy to an individual's decision-making process, it is probably the individual's decision to spend or to save, but this is not a useful guideline for trust administration. No case has been found in which a court has relied on the "prudent man" rule of the 1962 Uniform Act.
Fiduciary discretion. The general rule is that if a discretionary power is conferred upon a trustee, the exercise of that power is not subject to control by a court except to prevent an abuse of discretion. Restatement (Second) of Trusts § 187. The situations in which a court will control the exercise of a trustee's discretion are discussed in the comments to § 187. See also id. § 233 Comment p .
Questions for which there is no provision. Section 15-1-403 (1)(d) allocates receipts and disbursements to principal when there is no provision for a different allocation in the terms of the trust, the will, or the Act. This may occur because money is received from a financial instrument not available at the present time (inflation-indexed bonds might have fallen into this category had they been announced after this Act was approved by the Commissioners on Uniform State Laws) or because a transaction is of a type or occurs in a manner not anticipated by the Drafting Committee for this Act or the drafter of the trust instrument.
Allocating to principal a disbursement for which there is no provision in the Act or the terms of the trust preserves the income beneficiary's level of income in the year it is allocated to principal, but thereafter will reduce the amount of income produced by the principal. Allocating to principal a receipt for which there is no provision will increase the income received by the income beneficiary in subsequent years, and will eventually, upon termination of the trust, also favor the remainder beneficiary. Allocating these items to principal implements the rule that requires a trustee to administer the trust impartially, based on what is fair and reasonable to both income and remainder beneficiaries. However, if the trustee decides that an adjustment between principal and income is needed to enable the trustee to comply with Section 15-1-403 (2), after considering the return from the portfolio as a whole, the trustee may make an appropriate adjustment under Section 15-1-404 (1).
Duty of impartiality. Whenever there are two or more beneficiaries, a trustee is under a duty to deal impartially with them. Restatement of Trusts 3d: Prudent Investor Rule § 183 (1992). This rule applies whether the beneficiaries' interests in the trust are concurrent or successive. If the terms of the trust give the trustee discretion to favor one beneficiary over another, a court will not control the exercise of such discretion except to prevent the trustee from abusing it. Id. § 183, Comment a . "The precise meaning of the trustee's duty of impartiality and the balancing of competing interests and objectives inevitably are matters of judgment and interpretation. Thus, the duty and balancing are affected by the purposes, terms, distribution requirements, and other circumstances of the trust, not only at the outset but as they may change from time to time." Id. § 232, Comment c.
The terms of a trust may provide that the trustee, or an accountant engaged by the trustee, or a committee of persons who may be family members or business associates, shall have the power to determine what is income and what is principal. If the terms of a trust provide that this Act specifically or principal and income legislation in general does not apply to the trust but fail to provide a rule to deal with a matter provided for in this Act, the trustee has an implied grant of discretion to decide the question. Section 15-1-403 (2) provides that the rule of impartiality applies in the exercise of such a discretionary power to the extent that the terms of the trust do not provide that one or more of the beneficiaries are to be favored. The fact that a person is named an income beneficiary or a remainder beneficiary is not by itself an indication of partiality for that beneficiary.

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