Private Law Theory

ABSTRACT
This article considers how, if at all, trustees’ indemnity rights compete with one another. Each trustee has its own right to indemnity, but each trustee’s indemnity is a single right to indemnification; not a series of separate rights generated by each legitimate transaction. The indemnity is a right for the trustee to be reimbursed or exonerated out of the trust assets before the beneficiaries can lay claim to those assets. Where more than one trustee claims indemnification, and there are insufficient assets to cover all such claims, it is suggested that a rateable sharing approach is preferable.

Conaglen, Matthew, Trustees Competing Over Indemnity Rights (March 6, 2024), Melbourne University Law Review, Forthcoming.