There are many different duties that state law places on trustees of trusts here in Michigan. One of these duties is the duty to inform and report.
There are several things this duty covers. For one, trustees generally are required to, on at least a yearly basis, issue a report containing certain financial details of the trust to certain specified individuals (including individuals who receive distributions under the trust).
Also, trustees have a general requirement towards qualified trust beneficiaries to keep them reasonably informed of certain details of the trust. This includes facts of a material nature that a beneficiary would need to know to keep their interests protected. It also includes information regarding the trust's administration.
Additionally, state law puts certain information-providing requirements on trustees in connection to some specific events (such as a trustee's acceptance of the trusteeship) and certain information requests by beneficiaries.
As is the case with the other duties trustees have, when a trustee breaches the duty to inform and report, the trust's beneficiaries can be significantly harmed. If a trustee has committed a harmful breach of duty, the trust's beneficiaries may have legal actions they can take in response to the breach.
Trust litigation attorneys can help answer questions trust beneficiaries have about what duties trustees have and what the law requires trustees to do to meet these duties. Such attorneys can also help trust beneficiaries determine if a trustee breach of duty has occurred and, if it has, what the most appropriate course of action would be moving forward.