In breach of trust and/or breach of fiduciary suits, whether a trustee is personally liable often comes up. Section 456.10-1010, RSMo provides some points of clarification on the matter: (1) Unless provided otherwise in a contract, a trustee is not personally liable on a contract if the trustee discloses the trustee/fiduciary capacity in the contract….
Legal Articles
Trustees, Personal Liability
Asset protection is a big reason individuals will sometimes create a trust. A lot of the focus in such situations is on making sure a beneficiary’s interest in a trust estate is outside the purview of creditors. To that end, trusts often utilize spendthrift provisions. A spendthrift provision is language in a trust that prevents…
When you may be Personally Liable for LLC or Corporate Debt
One of the main benefits to forming a limited liability company or corporation is that the owners of the company are usually not personally responsible for the debts of the busness. There are exceptions to this general rule. First and foremost, if there is a personal guarantee for a business debt, then the personal guarantor…
Personal Liability from a Business Debt
There are certain circumstances in which a business liability can flow through and result in personal liability to a business owner. Missouri law permits a court to “pierce the corporate veil” and make an owner liable for a business debt when the following is shown: (1) There is control and complete domination, not only of…
Personal Liability for Corporate Officers and Directors
One of the traditional benefits of a corporation is that it generally shields its shareholders, directors and officers from the liabilities of the corporation. Indeed, merely holding a corporate officer in Missouri does not subject one to personal liability for the misdeeds of the corporation. Grothe v. Helterbrand, 946 S.W.2d 301, 304 (Mo. Ct. App. 1997)….
Reverse Piercing of the Corporate Veil
A hallmark of corporations and limited liability companies (LLC) is that generally a business liability will not result in the personal liability of corporate shareholders or LLC members. An exception to this rule is the piercing the corporate veil theory, which disregards the shield of liability when a business is a mere alter ego of the…