Every beneficiary is a potential plaintiff, and the trust document decides which of your decisions they can sue over.
A professional trustee, a private fiduciary or a firm that serves as trustee holds other people's money under a duty that courts enforce strictly. The claims come from beneficiaries: an investment that lost value, a distribution they say was late or unfair, a fee they call excessive, a co-trustee who accuses the other. Trustee professional liability, sometimes called fiduciary errors and omissions, defends those claims and pays what the trustee is found to owe. It is a different thing from the bond a court may require, which protects the trust and then looks to the trustee for repayment. We place it for individual professional trustees, fiduciary firms, accountants and attorneys who serve as trustee, and family offices.
Tell us the situation.
One licensed human replies the same business day — not five agents, not an auto-responder. If the policy you have is already the right one, we will tell you.
We use this to quote and service your insurance, and we do not sell it or pass it to lead networks. Privacy policy.
Send us what you have. We’ll tell you if it’s right.
Your current policy paperwork, a renewal notice, or nothing at all. A licensed agent reads it and replies the same business day.
What trustee businesses actually need.
Trustee professional liability
Defense and damages for claims that you breached your duty as trustee: investment decisions, distributions, accounting, fees, delegation.
Without it — A beneficiary suit is defended at your own expense, and a surcharge order is paid from your own assets.
Fiduciary bond
A court-required guarantee that the trust or estate will be made whole if the trustee misappropriates or mishandles it.
Without it — The court may refuse the appointment, and a bond is not insurance: the surety pays the trust and then collects from you.
Crime and employee dishonesty
Theft of trust assets by your employees, and social engineering losses where a fraudster impersonates a beneficiary or advisor.
Without it — A wire sent to a fraudster's account on a spoofed instruction is the fastest-growing loss in the class.
General liability
Injury and property damage at your office.
Without it — Small, but landlords and clients ask for it.
Cyber liability
A breach of the financial and personal records a trustee holds on every beneficiary.
Without it — A trustee's files are a complete identity-theft kit for each beneficiary, and notification costs alone can exceed a small firm's revenue.
The claims we actually see.
Ordered by how often we see them, not by how dramatic they are. Each one names the coverage that answers it — and the policy people wrongly assume already does.
Most common
A beneficiary alleges the investments were imprudent or too concentrated
Covered by Trustee professional liability
The trust agreement's investment terms and a written investment policy are the defense. The application asks whether every trust has both.
Common
A dispute over distributions or fees
Covered by Trustee professional liability
Fee disputes are often sublimited or excluded as return of fees. Read that clause before you accept a trust with a difficult family.
Less common, severe
Self-dealing or a conflict of interest alleged
Covered by Defense only, and often excluded if proven
Loans from a trust to the trustee, or trust money in a business the trustee has a stake in, are the questions on the application that can make the policy unobtainable.
Less common, severe
A fraudulent instruction moves trust funds
Covered by Crime, with social engineering coverage
Verbal verification of every payment instruction by callback is the control that carriers now require to offer the coverage at all.
What the policy will not cover.
Pick a procedure to see what the exclusion actually means and whether it can be placed somewhere else.
The policy covers claims arising from your duties as trustee under written trust agreements disclosed on the application. It does not cover everything a fiduciary might be accused of.
What trustee liability insurance will not do
Intentional wrongdoing
Fraud, theft and knowing breach are excluded once established, though the policy usually defends until then.
Can it be placed? No; the bond and crime coverage respond to the trust's loss instead.
Return of fees
An order to repay excessive fees is your money going back, not damages, and most forms exclude it.
Can it be placed? Some markets offer a sublimit.
Trusts not on the application
Coverage is priced on the number, size and type of trusts you administer; an undisclosed trust is an uninsured one.
Can it be placed? Yes, by adding it before the claim.
Investment advice as a business
Managing investments for a fee outside the trustee role is investment advisor liability, a separate policy.
Can it be placed? Yes, on an investment advisor policy.
What the insurance company will ask about your trustee business
We read 2 applications the markets use for this kind of business and pulled out what they actually ask. Have these answers ready and a quote takes a day instead of a week, because nobody has to come back to you for the missing piece.
About the business
- What exactly do you do, and at which locations?
- What type of business structure are you (individual, corporation, partnership, or other)?
- What other names has your business used?
- Is this a new business?
How you operate
- How many hours per week do you spend on ADR work?
- How many ADR cases do you handle each month on average?
- What percentage of your work is in each area: family law divorce, child custody, personal injury, labor and employment, commercial law, healthcare, professional liability, probate, intellectual property, real estate, environmental, or contracts?
- What percentage of your revenue comes from arbitration, mediation, training, or other sources?
- Do you do any of this work outside the US, Canada, or US territories?
Safety and controls
- Do you or any of your employees, partners, or directors serve on the board of any client?
- Have you ever been professionally disciplined or had a professional license suspended or revoked?
- Have you ever been sued for professional malpractice?
- Do you have a position in your company focused on loss control or safety?
Your history
- Have you had any incidents, events, or losses that could lead to a claim before this policy starts?
- Have you or any previous version of your business had any claims or losses?
- Who is or was your insurance company for the last three years, and what coverage did they provide?
- Have you tried to get this coverage through standard insurance companies, and if they turned you down, why?
Money and people
- How many full-time and part-time employees do you have?
- What is your annual payroll?
- Who manages the business and how many years have they worked in this field?
- What other business insurance do you currently carry?
Have these ready
- A list of all your professional licenses and certifications with the states where they were issued and their current status
- Your last five years of claims history from your current or past insurance companies
- An engagement letter or written agreement that describes what you do and your responsibilities
- Any materials you publish for clients or the public
You answer what you can; a licensed agent fills the rest with you.
What our trustee clients ask us.
Is a trustee bond the same as trustee liability insurance?
No. A bond is a guarantee to the court that the trust will be repaid if you mishandle it, and the surety that pays will collect from you. Liability insurance defends you against beneficiary claims and pays damages on your behalf. A court can require the bond; the insurance is what protects the trustee personally.
How much does trustee liability insurance cost?
For an individual professional trustee administering a handful of trusts, typically in the low-to-mid four figures a year. The price rises with the total assets under administration, the number of beneficiaries, whether you make investment decisions yourself, and any prior disputes. Discretionary investment authority is the largest single factor.
What does a trustee insurance application ask for?
The application we work from asks what trustee services you provide (bill payment, bookkeeping, tax returns), how your fees are set, whether you have sole authority to make investment decisions or use outside managers, whether you delegate duties and how you check the work, whether each trust agreement describes its investment goals, whether you ever invest trust money in businesses you or relatives have a stake in or loan trust money to yourself, and for each trust the name, appointment date, assets, income, beneficiary count and type.
Does my accountant or attorney malpractice policy cover serving as trustee?
Sometimes, for a client's trust where the trustee role is incidental to the professional relationship, and often with a sublimit. A practitioner who serves as trustee regularly, or for large trusts, should confirm in writing or buy the trustee coverage separately. Professional liability policies differ on this more than on almost anything else.
Commercial insurance is 96% of what we do — it is not a department here, it is the whole business. Not ready to talk? The guides answer the questions this page raises in more depth. Already insured with us and need a certificate or a policy change? Ask the service team rather than starting a quote — it is faster and it goes to the people whose job it is. We also write home and auto, which is usually cheaper alongside the business policy than apart from it.
Handed a lease, a vendor packet or a client contract with insurance requirements? Paste it into the COI Requirements Decoder to see what each one means for your business, or read what the requirements mean.