The Trustee Investment Act 1961

The Trustee Investments Act 1961 was repealed in 2000 by a new act that covered the legal obligations of trustees with regards to the handling of assets that have been placed under their management.

The Trustee Act 2000 is made up of the following aspects of trust law:

The trustees’ duty of care

The trustee is bound by a duty of care which means that that they are bound by an obligation to perform their duties to the best of their ability and to avoid where possible conflicts of interest that may affect their role as trustee.

The trustees’ legal ability to invest assets

This allows trustees more legal power than the Trustee Investments Act 1961 with investments, stating that they may reasonably invest assets in a way that they deem to be suitable.

The comparison tables on this page are designed so that you can easily and effectively judge different trustee bonds and savings account deals.

Other key features of the Trustee Investments Act are:

The ability to assign people the roles of nominees and agents

The trustee is able to appoint agents to carry out a range of activities referred to as ‘delegable functions’ as long as they do not involve the distribution or allocation of the trust’s assets in any way.

The trustees’ ability to obtain land

Trustees are allowed to purchase land as means of investment, or for the beneficiaries to live on or for any other reason deemed suitable.

The trustees’ right to have their expenses covered

Trustees are entitled to have their expenses remunerated if this is stated in the trust instrument or if the trustee is acting in a ‘professional capacity’.

If you have been assigned the role of trustee, you may wish to consider your investment options carefully. Our trustee savings and investment comparison tables contain details of several different investment options that may be of interest to you.

For alternatives to standard trustee saving accounts, see the table below where we have brought together a selection of structured deposit plans. Structured deposits are term deposits (like a fixed rate bond). The capital is not at risk, but the returns are linked to the performance of an underlying asset, such as the UK stockmarket.

 
These types of plans are worth considering if capital can be committed for the plan term and you are looking for a potential return that is better than a traditional fixed rate bond.