Chapter 101
2009 -- H 5488
Enacted 07/09/09
A N A C T
RELATING TO FIDUCIARIES -- TRUSTEE POWERS
Introduced By: Representatives Lally, and Jackson
Date Introduced: February 12, 2009
It is enacted by the
General Assembly as follows:
SECTION 1. Section 18-4-2 of the General Laws in Chapter
18-4 entitled "Powers of
Fiduciaries" is hereby
amended to read as follows:
18-4-2. Powers of
trustees. -- (a) Every trust, inter vivos or testamentary, previously or
subsequently effective, in which no provision is made to the
contrary, shall be deemed to give to
the trustees or trustee under the trust for the time
being, in addition to any other power they may
lawfully have, full power in their, his, or her discretion, or
if a corporation in the discretion of its
duly authorized officer or committee:
(1) To invest and
reinvest the trust estate, or any part of it, in real or personal property,
foreign or domestic, including, without limiting the
generality of the preceding provisions,
savings accounts of banks and trust companies and shares of
stock or other securities of
corporations, building and loan associations, investment trusts,
and investment companies, and to
vary from time to time the investments of the trust
estate;
(2) To exercise
discretionary powers of sale, lease, partition by suit or deed, and
exchange over the trust estate, or any part of it, whether
real or personal property; in case of any
sale, to sell at public or private sale, for cash or on
credit and together or in parcels; in case of any
lease, to lease for a period that the trustees or trustee
shall deem advisable, whether terminating
during the continuance of the trusts or thereafter; and in
case of any partition or in case of any
exchange, to give or receive money for equality of partition
or exchange;
(3) To appoint a proxy
or proxies, with or without power of substitution, to vote shares
of a corporation or association included in the trust
estate as directed or in a manner that the
proxy or proxies shall deem best;
(4) To participate in,
assent to, or disapprove any plan for the reorganization,
recapitalization, consolidation, merger, winding up, or readjustment
of the indebtedness of any
corporation or association, and to take any and all action
required by reason of participation in the
plan; and
(5) Upon the
termination of any trust with respect to any portion of the trust estate, to
set
aside the portion from the remainder of the trust estate;
upon the termination of any trust with
respect to the entire trust estate, or any part of it, to
partition the trust estate into the shares, if any,
in which it is distributable; and in connection with the
setting aside of any portion or any partition
to exercise the power of sale conferred by this section
upon the trustees or trustee, and to allocate
to any share in or part of the trust estate specific
investments at their fair value at the time of
allocation as determined by the trustees or trustee acting in
good faith.
(6) To donate a
conservation easement on any real property in order to obtain the benefit
of the estate tax exclusion allowed under sections 170
and 2031(c), respectively, of the United
States Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended, if:
(i)
Each party who has an interest in the real property that would be affected by
the
conservation easement consents in writing to the donation, or
(ii) The trust
instrument directs, requires or permits a donation of a conservation
easement in gross, in which case no consent shall be required.
(b) The trustees or
trustee may be authorized by the superior court to execute any or all
of the powers set forth in subdivisions (a)(1) to (a)(5)
of this section, upon the terms and
conditions that the court may deem proper, notwithstanding any
provision of any trust instrument
which is or may possibly be deemed to be inconsistent with
the exercise of any of these powers,
if, in the opinion of the court, authority to exercise
the power or powers is or may become
necessary or desirable to enable the trustees or trustee to
properly perform the duties and
accomplish the purposes of the trust, the authorization to be granted
only upon written application
to a justice of the court and upon the notice, if any,
that the justice may direct.
SECTION 2. This act shall take effect upon passage.
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LC00987
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