נאמן יורש במסצ'וסטס

What "successor trustee" means in Massachusetts

A trustee is an original, additional or successor trustee or a co-trustee (G.L. c. 203E, § 103). A successor takes office when a vacancy occurs — a designated trustee rejects, cannot be identified or does not exist; a trustee resigns, is disqualified or removed, or dies; or a guardian or conservator is appointed for an individual serving as trustee (§ 704(a)). A vacancy need not be filled while a co-trustee remains; when the trust has no remaining trustee it is filled by the person the terms designate as successor trustee, then by a person the qualified beneficiaries appoint by unanimous agreement, then by a person the court appoints (§ 704(b), (c)); the court may appoint an additional trustee or a special fiduciary whenever it considers one necessary for the administration (§ 704(d)).

No trust is subject to continuing judicial supervision unless the court orders it (G.L. c. 203E, § 201(b)). A proceeding in the Probate and Family Court to appoint or remove a trustee, approve a resignation, review and settle accounts or decide another matter of the administration begins by petition, with notice to the interested parties (§ 201(d)).

Taking office: accepting, rejecting, and preserving

A designated trustee accepts by substantially complying with a method of acceptance the terms provide or, where the terms provide none or the method is not expressly made exclusive, by accepting delivery of the trust property, exercising powers or performing duties as trustee, or otherwise indicating acceptance (G.L. c. 203E, § 701(a)). A designee who has not accepted may reject, and one who does not accept within a reasonable time after knowing of the designation is deemed to have rejected (§ 701(b)). Without accepting, a designee may act to preserve the trust property — sending a rejection within a reasonable time after acting to the settlor or, if the settlor is dead or lacks capacity, to a qualified beneficiary — and may inspect the property for environmental or other liability (§ 701(c)).

By accepting the trusteeship of a trust whose principal place of administration is in Massachusetts, the trustee submits personally to the jurisdiction of the commonwealth's courts regarding any matter involving the trust (G.L. c. 203E, § 202(a)). A bond is the testamentary trustee's: that trustee furnishes one, with a surety unless the terms waive it or the Probate and Family Court finds it not necessary, and the court may excuse, reduce or require it (§ 702).

The one notice: 30 days from the later of two dates

Within 30 days after the acceptance of the trust or the trust's becoming irrevocable, whichever is later, the trustee informs the qualified beneficiaries in writing of the trustee's name and address, delivered or sent by ordinary first-class mail (G.L. c. 203E, § 813(b)) — counted from the later of the two events (for most living trusts, the settlor's death makes the trust irrevocable), not from the day the trustee learns of either. The qualified beneficiaries are those who, on the date their qualification is determined, are distributees or permissible distributees of trust income or principal, or would be if the trust terminated on that date (§ 103); a beneficiary who has sent the trustee a request for notice receives it too, as do a charity expressly designated to receive distributions under a charitable trust, on the same test, and a person appointed to enforce a trust for an animal or another non-charitable purpose (§ 110).

The statute asks for the trustee's name and address only — no telephone number and no statement of the trust's terms. While the trust is revocable and the settlor has capacity to revoke it, the trustee's duties are owed exclusively to the settlor (G.L. c. 203E, § 603(a)). The duty is not among the rules the terms of a trust cannot override, so the terms may vary it (§ 105). Notice to a person who may represent and bind a beneficiary — a conservator, a guardian where no conservator has been appointed, or a parent for a minor child with no conservator or guardian — has the same effect as notice to the beneficiary (§§ 301(a), 303).

The duties that come with the role

On accepting, a trustee administers the trust in good faith, in accordance with its terms and purposes and the interests of the beneficiaries (G.L. c. 203E, § 801); solely in the beneficiaries' interests (§ 802(a)); impartially where there are two or more (§ 803); as a prudent person would, with reasonable care, skill and caution (§ 804); incurring only appropriate and reasonable costs (§ 805) and using any special skills (§ 806). The trustee may delegate where prudent (§ 807), acts on an exercise of a power to direct within the section's limits (§ 808), takes control of and protects the property (§ 809), keeps adequate records and keeps the property separate (§ 810), enforces and defends claims (§ 811), compels a former trustee or other person to deliver the property and redresses a former trustee's known breach (§ 812), keeps the qualified beneficiaries reasonably informed, sends the notice and accounts (§ 813), and invests under the Massachusetts Prudent Investor Act (G.L. c. 203C, § 3).

• Good faith, loyalty, impartiality and prudence — G.L. c. 203E, §§ 801, 802, 803, 804.
• Control, records, claims and collection — G.L. c. 203E, §§ 809, 810, 811, 812.
• The one notice, the response to requests and the account — G.L. c. 203E, § 813.
• Investment as a prudent investor, with a review of the assets at the start — G.L. c. 203C, §§ 3, 5.

First steps before acting

Read the trust instrument and every amendment before acting in the trustee's name; except as the terms provide otherwise, the code governs the trustee's duties and powers (G.L. c. 203E, § 105(a)), so the terms shape every default rule it states. Record the date of death, the date you accepted and how, the date the trust became irrevocable, and the date the trust instrument was signed — the code's revocability rule (§ 602(a)) and its co-trustee majority rule (§ 703(a)) do not reach an instrument signed before July 8, 2012. Find the deeds, the account statements and the beneficiary designations; list each asset by how it is titled. Identify the qualified beneficiaries and note, for each, your own answer to whether that person is one today; TrusteeClear records your answers and never decides them. Keep the trust property separate from your own and keep the record from day one (§ 810).

מועדי הנאמן במסצ'וסטס: מה קובעים החוקים

נבדק מול חוקי מסצ'וסטס בתאריך 2026-10-24. מידע כללי, לא ייעוץ משפטי; הנוסח הרשמי קובע.

Co-trustees and the power to direct

Co-trustees who are unable to reach a unanimous decision may act by majority decision; the remaining co-trustees may act during a vacancy; a co-trustee participates unless unavailable because of absence, illness, disqualification or other temporary incapacity, or having properly delegated the function to another trustee (G.L. c. 203E, § 703(a), (b), (c)). A trustee who does not join in another trustee's action is not liable for it, but each trustee exercises reasonable care to prevent a co-trustee from committing a breach of trust and to compel a co-trustee to redress one (§ 703(e), (f)). Where the terms confer on a person other than the settlor of a revocable trust a power to direct certain actions of the trustee, the trustee acts in accordance with an exercise of the power unless it is manifestly contrary to the terms or the trustee knows it would be a serious breach of a fiduciary duty the holder owes the beneficiaries (§ 808(b)); the holder is presumptively a fiduciary and is liable for any loss that results from a breach of a fiduciary duty (§ 808(c)). Massachusetts has no directed trust act.

Resigning, being removed, and the vacancy

A trustee may resign on at least 30 days' notice — to the settlor and all co-trustees of a revocable trust, or to the qualified beneficiaries and all co-trustees of any other trust — or with the court's approval (G.L. c. 203E, § 705(a)); a resignation does not discharge any liability of the trustee or of the sureties on the trustee's bond (§ 705(c)). The court may remove a trustee for a serious breach of trust; a lack of cooperation among co-trustees that substantially impairs the administration; unfitness, unwillingness or persistent failure to administer the trust effectively; or a substantial change of circumstances or a request by all the qualified beneficiaries — each with the findings the section requires (§ 706(b)). A trustee who has resigned or been removed proceeds expeditiously to deliver the trust property within the trustee's possession to the co-trustee, successor trustee or other person entitled to it (§ 707), and the successor takes reasonable steps to compel that delivery (§ 812).

Compensation, the account, and the ways trustees get into trouble

A trustee is entitled to the compensation the terms specify or, where they specify none, to compensation reasonable under the circumstances; the court may allow more or less where the duties are substantially different from those contemplated when the trust was created or the specified compensation would be unreasonably low or high (G.L. c. 203E, § 708). The account states the amount of the trustee's compensation — the statute asks for no advance notice of a change in it — and goes to the distributees and permissible distributees of trust income or principal, and to other qualified beneficiaries who request it, at least annually and at the termination of the trust (§ 813(c)); the trustee is reimbursed for expenses properly incurred (§ 709(a)).

A violation of a duty the trustee owes a beneficiary is a breach of trust, for which the court may compel performance, enjoin, compel redress, order an account, appoint a special fiduciary, suspend or remove the trustee, reduce or deny compensation, void an act, impose a lien or a constructive trust, trace the property, or order other relief (G.L. c. 203E, § 1001). A transaction for the trustee's own account, or otherwise affected by a conflict between the trustee's fiduciary and personal interests, is voidable by an affected beneficiary unless one of the section's exceptions applies, and one with the trustee's spouse, descendants, siblings, parents or their spouses, agent or attorney, or an enterprise in which the trustee has an interest that might affect the trustee's best judgment is presumed conflicted (§ 802(b), (c)); an exculpatory term does not reach a breach committed in bad faith or with reckless indifference (§ 1008(a)); and a beneficiary's written consent, release or ratification does not relieve the trustee where it was induced by the trustee's improper conduct or the beneficiary did not know the material facts (§ 1009).

When a licensed Massachusetts attorney is the right next call

Whether to accept, who the qualified beneficiaries are on a date, whether the instrument varies a duty, how a particular transaction fares under the duty of loyalty, whether a fee is reasonable, and what a final account should contain to start the six-month period are questions a licensed Massachusetts attorney of your choosing answers from the instrument and the facts. TrusteeClear organizes the record and shows the statute's clocks from your dates; it does not decide them.