Pennsylvania § 9506 - Liability of trustees and beneficiaries.

§ 9506. Liability of trustees and beneficiaries.

(a) General rule.--

(1) Except as otherwise provided in the instrument, the beneficiaries of a business trust shall be entitled to the same limitation of personal liability as is extended to shareholders in a domestic business corporation.

(2) Except as otherwise provided in the instrument, the trustees of a trust, as such, shall not be personally liable to any person for any act or obligation of the trust or any other trustee.

(3) An obligation of a trust based upon a writing may be limited to a specific fund or other identified pool or group of assets of the trust.

(b) Standards and immunities.--Except as otherwise provided in the instrument governing the trust, the provisions of Subchapters B (relating to fiduciary duty) and D (relating to indemnification) of Chapter 17 shall be applicable to representatives of a business trust.

(c) Certain specifically authorized debt terms.--A business trust shall be subject to section 1510 (relating to certain specifically authorized debt terms) to the same extent as if it were a business corporation.

(d) Professional relationship unaffected.--Subsection (a) shall not afford trustees or beneficiaries of a business trust providing professional services with greater immunity than is available to the officers, shareholders, employees or agents of a professional corporation. See section 2925 (relating to professional relationship retained).

(e) Disciplinary jurisdiction unaffected.--A business trust providing professional services shall be subject to the applicable rules and regulations adopted by, and all the disciplinary powers of, the court, department, board, commission or other government unit regulating the profession in which the business trust is engaged. The court, department, board or other government unit may require that a business trust include in its instrument provisions that conform to any rule or regulation heretofore or hereafter promulgated for the purpose of enforcing the ethics of a profession. This chapter shall not affect or impair the disciplinary powers of the court, department, board, commission or other government unit over licensed persons or any law, rule or regulation pertaining to the standards for professional conduct of licensed persons or to the professional relationship between any licensed person rendering professional services and the person receiving professional services.

(f) Permissible beneficiaries.--Except as otherwise provided by a statute, rule or regulation applicable to a particular profession, all of the ultimate beneficial owners of interests in a business trust that renders one or more restricted professional services shall be licensed persons in the profession the trust practices if the trust renders any of the following professional services: chiropractic, dentistry, law, medicine and surgery, optometry, osteopathic medicine and surgery, podiatric medicine, public accounting, psychology or veterinary medicine.

(g) Conflict of laws.--The personal liability of a trustee or beneficiary of a business trust to any person or in any action or proceeding for the debts, obligations or liabilities of the trust or for the acts or omissions of other trustees, beneficiaries, employees or agents of the trust shall be governed solely and exclusively by this chapter and the laws of this Commonwealth. Whenever a conflict arises between the laws of this Commonwealth and the laws of any other state with respect to the liability of trustees or beneficiaries of a trust organized and existing under this chapter for the debts, obligations and liabilities of the trust or for the acts or omissions of the other trustees, beneficiaries, employees or agents of the trust, the laws of this Commonwealth shall govern in determining such liability.

(h) Medical professional liability.--A business trust shall be deemed to be a professional corporation for purposes of section 744 of the act of March 20, 2002 (P.L.154, No.13), known as the Medical Care Availability and Reduction of Error (Mcare) Act.

(i) Failure to observe formalities.--The failure of a business trust to observe formalities relating to the exercise of its powers or management of its activities and affairs is not a ground for imposing liability on a beneficiary or trustee of the trust for a debt, obligation or other liability of the trust.

(Dec. 19, 1990, P.L.834, No.198, eff. imd.; Dec. 7, 1994, P.L.703, No.106, eff. 60 days; June 22, 2001, P.L.411, No.34, eff. 60 days; Nov. 21, 2016, P.L.1328, No.170, eff. 90 days)

Cross References. Section 9506 is referred to in section 9507 of this title.