The duty of trustee impartiality and neutrality in trust disputes applies only where beneficiaries claim in their capacity as beneficiaries; where a beneficiary advances a claim in a capacity other than as beneficiary (e.g., asserting a constructive trust or estoppel claim adverse to the estate), the trustee's duty is to protect and preserve the trust estate by actively defending. A trustee seeking directions that litigation is 'justified' should ordinarily obtain counsel's opinion on prospects before approaching the court. A direction to prosecute a counterclaim will not be given where the quantum is unknown, the claim is not formulated, and reasonable steps have not been taken to investigate the proposed claim.
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