The Vermont Statutes Online
The Statutes below include the actions of the 2025 session of the General Assembly.
NOTE: The Vermont Statutes Online is an unofficial copy of the Vermont Statutes Annotated that is provided as a convenience.
(Cite as: 14A V.S.A. § 703)
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§ 703. Cotrustees
(a) Cotrustees who are unable to reach a unanimous decision may act by majority decision.
(b) If a vacancy occurs in a cotrusteeship, the remaining cotrustees may act for the trust.
(c) A cotrustee must participate in the performance of a trustee’s function unless the
cotrustee is unavailable to perform the function because of absence, illness, disqualification
under other law, or other temporary incapacity, or the cotrustee has properly delegated
the performance of the function to another trustee.
(d) If a cotrustee is unavailable to perform duties because of absence, illness, disqualification
under other law, or other temporary incapacity, and prompt action is necessary to
achieve the purposes of the trust or to avoid injury to the trust property, the remaining
cotrustee or a majority of the remaining cotrustees may act for the trust.
(e) A trustee may not delegate to a cotrustee the performance of a function the settlor
reasonably expected the trustees to perform jointly. Unless a delegation was irrevocable,
a trustee may revoke a delegation previously made.
(f) Except as otherwise provided in subsection (g) of this section, a trustee who does
not join in an action of another trustee is not liable for the action.
(g) Each trustee shall exercise reasonable care to:
(1) prevent a cotrustee from committing a serious breach of trust; and
(2) compel a cotrustee to redress a serious breach of trust.
(h) A dissenting trustee who joins in an action at the direction of the majority of the
trustees and who notified in writing any cotrustee of the dissent at or before the
time of the action is not liable for the action unless the action is a serious breach
of trust. (Added 2009, No. 20, § 1.)