Its always a nice thing to be asked to be a trustee or executor of a trust or will, and in most instances people always say yes. But do they really know what they are setting themselves up for?

This month, two cases passed through the courts which have shown that trustees can be held personally responsible for their actions.

In the first case, the trustee of a company pension scheme agreed to lend the company £130,000. The company was, however, struggling and ultimately the money was lost when the company went into administration. The trustee was deemed not to have been "prudent" in his actions. As such, he was held personally liable for the loan and now has his own £130,000 debt.

In the second case, a trust had invested in a Scottish Widows investment, and had received a windfall when Scottish Widows was bought by Lloyds TSB Bank. One of the trustees convinced the others that the windfall was compensation and so should be paid back to the settlor (the person setting up the trust). The case went to the High Court and it was held that this payment was outside the terms of the trust deed, and was the property of the beneficiaries. The trustee who convinced the others to follow his lead was ordered to pay back the £86,000 plus eight years' interest.

Being a trustee is an important and responsible job. But one of the problems is that we don't know what we don't know, and it's because of this that we can easily put ourselves in a dangerous position.

If you are a trustee, or are asked to be a trustee, never be afraid of taking the right and professional advice, simply just to protect yourself. Most trusts will allow for the cost of this advice to be paid by the trust, and so wherever practical you should do this.