Trustee

Person or institution that oversees and manages a trust.

A trustee is one to whom an estate has been conveyed in trust.

The trust estate is not subject to the specialty or judgment debts of the trustee, to the dower of his wife, or the curtesy of the hushand of a female trustee.

With respect to the duties of trustees, it is held, in conformity to the old law of uses, that pernancy of the profits, execution of estates, and defence of the land, are the three great properties of a trust, so that the courts of chancery will compel trustees, 1. To permit the cestui que trust to receive the rents and profits of the land. 2. To execute such conveyances, in accordance with the provisions of the trust, as the cestui que trust shall direct. 3. To defend the title of the land in any court of law or equity.

It has been judiciously remarked that in a great variety of cases, it is not easy to say what the duty of a trustee is; and that therefore, it often becomes indispensable for him, before he acts, to seek, the aid and direction of a court of equity.
   

This entry contains material from Bouvier's Legal Dictionary, a work published in the 1850's.

The person who holds property rights for the benefit of another through the legal mechanism of the beneficiary of the same property. - (read more on Trustee)
  

One who holds legal title to property in trust for the benefit ofanother person, and who is required to carry out specific duties with regard tothe property, or who has been given power affecting the disposition of propertyfor another's benefit.