## Facts

- Mary Gleeson owned a 160-acre farm in Christian County, Illinois.
- During her lifetime, she leased the farm for one-year terms to a farming partnership consisting of Con Colbrook and William Curtin, including a renewal beginning March 1, 1951.
- Gleeson died testate on February 14, 1952, shortly before the lease term was to end on March 1, 1952.
- Gleeson’s will was admitted to probate on March 29, 1952; it named Colbrook as executor and devised the residuary estate, including the farm, to Colbrook as trustee for Gleeson’s three children (one described as incompetent).
- After March 1, 1952, Colbrook and Curtin remained in possession and farmed the land for the 1952–1953 season as holdover tenants; Colbrook increased rent from $6 per acre to $10 per acre plus a crop share.
- Colbrook had planted wheat on part of the farm in fall 1951 to be harvested during the disputed season.
- Beneficiaries objected to Colbrook’s fiduciary account, asserting he improperly profited by leasing and occupying trust property in his personal capacity after the trust arose.
- The circuit court approved Colbrook’s account and overruled the objections.

## Issues

1. Whether a trustee breaches the duty of loyalty by leasing or continuing to lease trust property to himself (including through a partnership) and retaining the resulting profits.
2. Whether good faith, openness, fair rent, lack of proven loss to the trust, short notice to obtain another tenant, or existing crops justify an exception to the prohibition on trustee self-dealing.
3. What remedy applies when a trustee has personally profited from self-dealing with trust property.

## Decision

- The appellate court reversed the order approving the trustee’s account and remanded.
- It held that Colbrook’s continued possession and farming of the trust land as tenant while serving as trustee constituted prohibited self-dealing.
- The court required Colbrook to account to the trust for, and disgorge, the profits derived from the holdover tenancy.

## Legal Principles

- A trustee may not deal with trust property in an individual capacity for personal benefit; leasing trust real estate to oneself is self-dealing.
- The conflict inherent in acting both as trustee (owing undivided loyalty) and as tenant (seeking personal gain) is impermissible even if the trustee acts honestly and pays seemingly fair rent.
- Beneficiaries need not prove bad faith or actual economic harm to obtain relief from a trustee’s self-interested transaction.
- Practical difficulties (timing, tenant availability, or crops already planted) do not excuse self-dealing; the trustee must pursue nonconflicted alternatives.
- The appropriate remedy for trustee self-dealing includes an accounting and restitution of profits obtained from the trust property.

## Conclusion

The appellate court held that a trustee’s holdover farming of trust land through his own partnership was a breach of the duty of loyalty, requiring reversal of the approved account and remand for an accounting and disgorgement of profits, notwithstanding the trustee’s asserted good faith and the absence of demonstrated loss to the trust.


In re Gleeson’s Will, 5 Ill. App. 2d 61, 124 N.E.2d 624 (Ill. App. Ct. 3d Dist. 1955)