Of Punctilios and Paybacks: The Duty of Loyalty under the Uniform Trust Code

Loyalty has been cited as the most desired of traits from those who serve others. One reason that loyalty is so highly valued is that it is impossible to guarantee and impossible to buy. The trust law concept of the duty of loyalty acknowledges that human nature will cause any person to favor his or her personal interests over the interests another, and it is this assumption of disloyalty that gives rise to the strict prohibitions of trustee conflicts of interest required under the label of “duty of loyalty.”