Holte v. Rigby

Citations

• 2025 ND 77

Syllabus

A district court judgment entered after a bench trial is reversed in part and remanded for further proceedings. If a trustee who is also one of the beneficiaries commits a breach of trust, the other beneficiaries are entitled to a charge upon his beneficial interest to secure their claims against him for the breach of trust. If a trustee-beneficiary has only a life interest in trust income, however, his beneficial interest terminates upon his death. Co-trustees may not offset against a life beneficiary's distribution to recoup losses resulting from the previous life beneficiary's breach of trust. Because an equitable lien attaches to an asset as security, it is improper to attach an equitable lien to an asset in which a deceased debtor had only a life interest.