entrustee

An entrustee is a person who receives property or duties that another person, the entrustor, has designated to be managed, held, or performed. The term is used in various legal contexts, but it is not as common as the standard term trustee in modern trust practice.

In trust law, the formal role is typically that of a trustee, who holds and administers trust property for the benefit of beneficiaries. The word entrustee may appear in older texts or in certain civil-law or contractual frameworks to denote the recipient of the entrustment. In other contexts, such as bailment or fiduciary arrangements, an entrustee can be understood as the person who has been entrusted with property to safeguard, manage, or use for a specified purpose.

Duties of an entrustee depend on the relationship. If a trust exists, the entrustee, in its function as trustee, owes fiduciary duties of loyalty, prudence, and obedience to the trust terms, and must account for the property and any income to the beneficiaries or the trust. If the arrangement is bailment or a contractual entrustment, the entrustee (often called the bailee) is typically obliged to exercise reasonable care, avoid unauthorized use, and return the entrusted property in the agreed condition or as specified by the agreement.

Usage varies by jurisdiction and context; some legal texts treat entrustee as synonymous with trustee, while others reserve trustee for the formal trust relationship. When encountering the term, it is prudent to review the specific legal framework governing the arrangement in question.