59-16-16. (816) Specific powers of trustee
Without limiting the authority conferred by section 59-16-15, a trustee may:
1. Collect trust property and accept or reject additions to the trust property from a settlor
or any other person.
2. Acquire or sell property, for cash or on credit, at public or private sale.
3. Exchange, partition, or otherwise change the character of trust property.
4. Deposit or invest trust money in a regulated financial institution, including one
operated by the trustee or an affiliate of the trustee.
5. Borrow money, with or without security from any financial institution, including a
financial institution that is serving as a trustee or one of its affiliates, and mortgage or
pledge trust property for a period within or extending beyond the duration of the trust.
6. With respect to an interest in a proprietorship, partnership, limited liability company,
business trust, corporation, or other form of business or enterprise, continue the
business or other enterprise and take any action that may be taken by shareholders,
members, or property owners, including merging, dissolving, or otherwise changing
the form of business organization or contributing additional capital.
7. With respect to stocks or other securities, exercise the rights of an absolute owner,
including the right to vote, or give proxies to vote, with or without power of substitution,
or enter into or continue a voting trust agreement; hold a security in the name of a
nominee or in other form without disclosure of the trust so that title may pass by
delivery; pay calls, assessments, and other sums chargeable or accruing against the
securities, and sell or exercise stock subscription or conversion rights; and deposit the
securities with a depository or other regulated financial service institution.
8. With respect to an interest in real property, construct or make ordinary or extraordinary
repairs to, alterations to, or improvements in, buildings or other structures, demolish
improvements, raze existing or erect new party walls or buildings, subdivide or develop
land, dedicate land to public use or grant public or private easements, and make or
vacate plats and adjust boundaries.
9. Enter into a lease for any purpose as lessor or lessee, including a lease or other
arrangement for exploration and removal of natural resources, with or without the
option to purchase or renew, for a period within or extending beyond the duration of
the trust.
10. Grant an option involving a sale, lease, or other disposition of trust property or acquire
an option for the acquisition of property, including an option exercisable beyond the
duration of the trust, and exercise an option so acquired.
11. Insure the property of the trust against damage or loss and insure the trustee, the
trustee's agents, and beneficiaries against liability.
12. Abandon, distribute, or decline to administer property of no value or of insufficient
value to justify its collection or continued administration.
13. With respect to possible liability for violation of environmental law, inspect or
investigate property the trustee holds or has been asked to hold, or property owned or
operated by an organization in which the trustee holds or has been asked to hold an
interest for the purpose of determining the application of environmental law with
respect to the property; take action to prevent, abate, or otherwise remedy any actual
or potential violation of any environmental law affecting property held directly or
indirectly by the trustee, whether taken before or after the assertion of a claim or the
initiation of governmental enforcement; decline to accept property into trust or disclaim
any power with respect to property that is or may be burdened with liability for violation
of environmental law; compromise claims against the trust which may be asserted for
an alleged violation of environmental law; and pay the expense of any inspection,
review, abatement, or remedial action to comply with environmental law.
14. Pay or contest any claim, settle a claim by or against the trust, and release, in whole or
in part, a claim belonging to the trust.
15. Pay taxes, assessments, compensation of the trustee and of employees and agents of
the trust, and other expenses incurred in the administration of the trust.
16. Exercise elections with respect to federal, state, and local taxes.
17. Select a mode of payment under any employee benefit or retirement plan, annuity, or
life insurance payable to the trustee, exercise rights thereunder, including exercise of
the right to indemnification for expenses and against liabilities, and take appropriate
action to collect the proceeds.
18. Make loans out of trust property, including loans to a beneficiary on terms and
conditions the trustee considers to be fair and reasonable under the circumstances,
and the trustee has a lien on future distributions for repayment of those loans.
19. Pledge trust property to guarantee loans made by others to the beneficiary.
20. Appoint a trustee to act in another jurisdiction with respect to trust property located in
the other jurisdiction, confer upon the appointed trustee all of the powers and duties of
the appointing trustee, require that the appointed trustee furnish security, and remove
any trustee so appointed.
21. Pay an amount distributable to a beneficiary who is under a legal disability or who the
trustee reasonably believes is incapacitated, by paying it directly to the beneficiary or
applying it for the beneficiary's benefit, or by paying it to the beneficiary's conservator
or, if the beneficiary does not have a conservator, the beneficiary's guardian; paying it
to the beneficiary's custodian under chapter 47-24.1 and for that purpose, creating a
custodianship or custodial trust; if the trustee does not know of a conservator,
guardian, custodian, or custodial trustee, paying it to an adult relative or other person
having legal or physical care or custody of the beneficiary, to be expended on the
beneficiary's behalf; or managing it as a separate fund on the beneficiary's behalf,
subject to the beneficiary's continuing right to withdraw the distribution.
22. On distribution of trust property or the division or termination of a trust, make
distributions in divided or undivided interests, allocate particular assets in
proportionate or disproportionate shares, value the trust property for those purposes,
and adjust for resulting differences in valuation.
23. Resolve a dispute concerning the interpretation of the trust of the trust's administration
by mediation, arbitration, or other procedure for alternative dispute resolution.
24. Prosecute or defend an action, claim, or judicial proceeding in any jurisdiction to
protect trust property and the trustee in the performance of the trustee's duties.
25. Sign and deliver contracts and other instruments that are useful to achieve or facilitate
the exercise of the trustee's powers.
26. Purchase and pay from trust principal the premiums on life insurance.
27. Allocate items of income or expense to either trust income or principal, as provided by
law, including creation of reserves out of income for depreciation, obsolescence, or
amortization or for depletion in mineral or timber properties.
28. a. With respect to the administration of trust assets as one or more trusts to:
(1) Receive and administer additional property as part of the trust estate or as a
separate trust having terms identical to the terms of the existing trust;
(2) Sever any trust estate on a fractional basis, before or after a trust is funded,
into two or more separate trusts for any reason;
(3) Segregate by allocation to a separate account or trust a specific amount or
gift made from any trust to reflect a partial disclaimer, to reflect or result in
differences in federal tax attributes, to satisfy any federal tax requirements
or elections, or to reduce potential generation, skipping transfer tax liability,
in a manner consistent with the rules governing disclaimers, such federal tax
attributes, such requirements or elections, or any applicable tax rules or
regulations, and any income earned on a segregated amount or gift after
segregation occurs passes to the designated taker of such amount or gift;
and
(4) Consolidate two or more trusts having substantially similar terms into a
single trust.
b. In managing, investing, administering, and distributing the trust property of any
separate account or trust and in making applicable tax elections, consider the
differences in federal tax attributes and all other factors the trustee believes
pertinent and may make disproportionate distributions from the separate trusts
created. A separate account or trust created by severance or segregation must be
treated as a separate trust for all purposes from and after the date on which the
severance or segregation is effective. The trustee shall hold such separate
account or trust on terms and conditions that are substantially equivalent to the
terms of the trust from which it was severed or segregated so that the aggregate
interests of each beneficiary in the several trusts are substantially equivalent to
the beneficiary's interests in the trust before severance or segregation; provided,
however, that any terms of the trust before severance that would affect
qualification of the trust for any federal tax deduction, exclusion, election,
exemption, or other special federal tax status must remain identical in each of the
separate trusts created.
29. Employ persons, including attorneys, auditors, investment advisers or agents, to
advise or assist the trustee in the performance of administrative duties. A trustee may
act based on the recommendations of professionals without independently
investigating the recommendations.
30. Deal with the personal representative, trustee, or other representative of any other
trust or estate in which a beneficiary of the trust estate has an interest, notwithstanding
the fact that the trustee is a personal representative, trustee, or other representative of
the other trust or estate.
31. On termination of the trust, exercise the powers appropriate to wind up the
administration of the trust and distribute the trust property to the persons entitled to the
property.
