Colorado § 15-1-802 - Definitions.

§ 15-1-802. Definitions.

As used in this part 8, unless the context otherwise requires:

(1) "Court" means the district or probate court having jurisdiction over the administration of the estate or trust.

(2) "Estate" means the estate of a decedent or a person under disability.

(3) (a) "Fiduciary" means the one or more persons designated in a will, trust instrument, or otherwise, whether corporate or natural persons and including successors and substitutes, who are acting in any of the following capacities:

(I) Personal representatives, including executors, administrators, administrators with the will annexed (cum testamento annexo), administrators in succession acting under a will (de bonis non), ancillary administrators acting under a will, and ancillary executors;

(II) Special administrators;

(III) Conservators; and

(IV) Trustees.

(b) "Fiduciary" does not include a guardian, special fiduciary, or public administrator, except when the public administrator has been appointed a fiduciary as defined in this subsection (3).

(4) "Trust" means any express trust created by a will, trust instrument, or other instrument, whereby there is imposed upon a trustee the duty to administer a trust asset, for the benefit of a named or otherwise described income or principal beneficiary, or both. A trust shall not include trusts for the benefit of creditors, resulting or constructive trusts, business trusts where certificates of beneficial interest are issued to the beneficiary, investment trusts, voting trusts, security instruments such as deeds of trust and mortgages, trusts created by the judgment or decree of a court, liquidation or reorganization trusts, or trusts for the sole purpose of paying dividends, interest, interest coupons, salaries, wages, pensions, or profits, instruments wherein one or more persons are mere nominees for another, or trusts created in deposits in any banking institution or savings and loan institution.

(5) "Will" means a will of a decedent and includes a testament or codicil.

Source: L. 67: p. 766, § 1. C.R.S. 1963: § 57-8-2. L. 73: p. 1647, § 7. L. 75: (3) R&RE, p. 588, § 7, effective July 1.

ANNOTATION

Ex-husband had fiduciary duty to ex-wife since he retained complete control over her share of stock. Despite having the power to sell the stock within his sole discretion, the husband still was required to operate within the bounds of prudent judgment, reasonableness, and equity. Marshall v. Grauberger, 796 P.2d 34 (Colo. App. 1990).

As a matter of law, the husband owed the wife a fiduciary duty to deal with her interest with the utmost good faith. Marshall v. Grauberger, 796 P.2d 34 (Colo. App. 1990).

A trustee's duty of loyalty and of reasonable care dictates that he must seek to obtain the best price for trust property he is selling. If a trust has been damaged but there is uncertainty as to the extent of the damage, damages are to be closely approximated by drawing reasonable and probable inferences from the facts proven. Marshall v. Grauberger, 796 P.2d 34 (Colo. App. 1990).