Techniques are provided for implementing a custodianship model for decentralized track fusion. A methodology implementing the techniques according to an embodiment includes negotiating, between a first decentralized track fuser (DTF) and one or more peer DTFs. The method also includes accepting, by the first DTF, custodianship of a track of an object from one of the peer DTFs based on a first negotiation. The method further includes updating, by the first DTF, the track based on fusion of data items associated with the track. The data items are received from one or more of the peer DTFs. The method further includes transferring, by the first DTF, custodianship of the updated track to one of the peer DTFs based on a second negotiation. In some cases, the transfer may be initiated by detection of a failure state of the first DTF.