Review of Reviews: Fiduciary Duties and Exculpatory Clauses: Clash of the Titans or Cozy Bedfellows?Review of Reviews: Fiduciary Duties and Exculpatory Clauses: Clash of the Titans or Cozy Bedfellows?

“Fiduciary Duties and Exculpatory Clauses: Clash of the Titans or Cozy Bedfellows?” 45 U. Mich. J. L. Reform, No. 4 (2012)

What should be the effect of an exculpatory provision within an instrument that names to a fiduciary position a lawyer, the lawyer’s firm or an institution with which the lawyer works?  Professor Louise Lark Hill poses this question and calls for the Uniform Probate Code (UPC) to join the Uniform Trust Code (UTC) and Restatements of Trusts with specific standards for enforceability that can’t be waived in the governing instrument.

Early in the 20th century, exculpatory clauses were often construed narrowly or ignored. The article notes a 1936 New York statute that invalidated, on public policy grounds, any attempt to ...