Updated August 4, 2026. Quick answer: if you are a qualified beneficiary of a trust, the trustee owes you specific things on a clock — not as a courtesy. Under the Uniform Trust Code the trustee must hand you a copy of the trust instrument on request, must notify you within sixty days of taking office or of the trust becoming irrevocable, and must send you an annual report that includes the source and amount of their own compensation. Most beneficiaries never ask, because nobody tells them they can.
The copy of the trust: on request, promptly
A trustee: (1) upon request of a beneficiary, shall promptly furnish to the beneficiary a copy of the trust instrument
— Neb. Rev. Stat. §30-3878, which enacts Uniform Trust Code §813, subsection (b)(1)
That is the whole rule. There is no discretion in it, no requirement that you explain why, and no carve-out for “the other beneficiaries would rather you didn’t”. A trustee who will not produce the document is not exercising judgement; they are not doing the thing the statute says they shall do.
The general duty sits above it and is broader than most people assume:
A trustee shall keep the qualified beneficiaries of the trust reasonably informed about the administration of the trust and of the material facts necessary for them to protect their interests. Unless unreasonable under the circumstances, a trustee shall promptly respond to a beneficiary’s request for information related to the administration of the trust.
— Neb. Rev. Stat. §30-3878, which enacts Uniform Trust Code §813, subsection (a)
Note the standard on the second sentence: the trustee may decline only where responding would be unreasonable under the circumstances — not merely inconvenient, and not because they would prefer not to.
The two sixty-day clocks
| A new trustee takes office | 60 days to notify the qualified beneficiaries of the acceptance and of the trustee’s name, address and telephone number |
|---|---|
| A trust becomes irrevocable — usually the settlor’s death | 60 days from the trustee learning of it, to notify the qualified beneficiaries of the trust’s existence, who the settlor was, the right to request a copy, and the right to a report |
| The trustee’s pay is going to change | notice in advance of any change in the method or rate of the trustee’s compensation |
within sixty days after the date the trustee acquires knowledge of the creation of an irrevocable trust, or the date the trustee acquires knowledge that a formerly revocable trust has become irrevocable, whether by the death of the settlor or otherwise, shall notify the qualified beneficiaries of the trust’s existence, of the identity of the settlor or settlors, of the right to request a copy of the trust instrument, and of the right to a trustee’s report
— Neb. Rev. Stat. §30-3878, which enacts Uniform Trust Code §813, subsection (b)(3)
Read what that notice must contain. The trustee is required to tell you that you have the right to ask for a copy. So a beneficiary who never knew they could ask was, in most cases, supposed to have been told.
The annual report, and the line in it people miss
A trustee shall send to the distributees or permissible distributees of trust income or principal, and to other qualified or nonqualified beneficiaries who request it, at least annually and at the termination of the trust, a report of the trust property, liabilities, receipts, and disbursements, including the source and amount of the trustee’s compensation, a listing of the trust assets and, if feasible, their respective market values.
— Neb. Rev. Stat. §30-3878, which enacts Uniform Trust Code §813, subsection (c)
Four things worth pulling out of that sentence:
- At least annually, and again when the trust ends.
- The source and amount of the trustee’s compensation is a required element of the report — not something you have to prise out separately.
- A listing of the assets and their market values where feasible.
- Non-qualified beneficiaries can get it too, if they request it. The annual send goes automatically to distributees; the request route is open more widely.
And when a trustee leaves, the obligation does not evaporate: unless a cotrustee remains, the former trustee must send a report. A trustee cannot resign their way out of accounting for the period they served.
If you signed something waiving this
A beneficiary may waive the right to a trustee’s report or other information otherwise required to be furnished under this section. A beneficiary, with respect to future reports and other information, may withdraw a waiver previously given.
— Neb. Rev. Stat. §30-3878, which enacts Uniform Trust Code §813, subsection (d)
A waiver is not permanent. It can be withdrawn as to future reports. Beneficiaries who signed a waiver years ago to keep the peace, and have since had reason to want a look, are not stuck with that decision.
The date that switches this off
Subdivisions (b)(2) and (3) of this section do not apply to a trustee who accepts a trusteeship before January 1, 2006, to an irrevocable trust created before January 1, 2006, or to a revocable trust that becomes irrevocable before January 1, 2006.
— Neb. Rev. Stat. §30-3878, which enacts Uniform Trust Code §813, subsection (f)
The two sixty-day notice duties are switched off for old trusteeships and old trusts. Note carefully what this does not reach: subsection (a), the general duty to inform and to respond to requests, and subsection (b)(1), the copy on request, and subsection (c), the report — none of those carry the 2006 cut-off. On a trust that went irrevocable in 1998 you may get no proactive notice and still be entitled to the document and the accounting.
How to ask, in a way that is hard to ignore
- Put it in writing and date it. Every duty above is triggered or measured by a date.
- Ask for the instrument by name — “a copy of the trust instrument” — and cite the subsection. Vagueness invites a partial answer.
- Ask for the report separately, and say you want it to include the source and amount of the trustee’s compensation, because the statute says it must.
- Keep the reply, or the silence. A dated request with no response is the record that matters if this ever goes further.
⚠️ Whether these are your rights
Every subsection quoted above is Nebraska’s enactment, which labels itself “(UTC 813)” on the face of the statute — so this is the uniform text, not a local variant. But the Uniform Trust Code is adopted state by state, states amend as they adopt, and a number of states have not enacted it at all. Deadlines in particular vary, and some states run a request-triggered scheme rather than the affirmative-notice one above.
So we are not telling you what your state does. We are showing you the uniform rule so you know what to ask for and what to cite — then check your own state’s version of §813, or ask a lawyer to.
Related
What a trustee may be paid, and by what standard: bank executor and trustee fees. If the trust terms themselves are the problem rather than the reporting: whether an irrevocable trust can still be changed. The parallel duty where a guardian rather than a trustee is in charge: guardian accounting duties. And if the trust holds a house: irrevocable versus revocable for your house.
Honest gaps
We have not published who counts as a qualified beneficiary — it is a defined term and it decides who gets the automatic notices. Nor have we covered what a trust instrument may validly do to cut these duties down (the statute makes them subject to another section we have not read), the remedies if a trustee simply refuses, the rules for revocable trusts while the settlor is alive, or any state’s deadline other than the one quoted. We have read one state’s statute and do not say which states have adopted the Code.
Statutory text read at the Nebraska Legislature’s own site. General information, not legal advice. Trust law is state law, and your own trust’s terms may alter some of what is described here. We sell nothing on this page and earn nothing from it.