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Getting started · 6 min lekti
Accepting the office
A person designated as trustee becomes trustee by accepting. N.J.S.A. 3B:31-46(a) provides that a trustee under a will accepts by obtaining letters of trusteeship from the court that admitted the will to probate (N.J.S.A. 3B:11-2), and that any other designated trustee accepts by substantially complying with a method of acceptance the terms of the trust 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 of the trusteeship. A designated trustee who does not accept within a reasonable time after knowing of the designation is deemed to have renounced the trusteeship (N.J.S.A. 3B:31-46(b)).
Without accepting, a designated trustee may act to preserve the trust property — if, within a reasonable time after acting, the person sends a renunciation to the settlor or, where the settlor is dead or lacks capacity, to the qualified beneficiaries and any trustee designated to succeed — and may inspect or investigate the property (N.J.S.A. 3B:31-46(c)). The acceptance date is the date the six-month review of the trust assets counts from (N.J.S.A. 3B:20-11.7).
The duties that apply from the first day
N.J.S.A. 3B:31-54 provides that, upon acceptance of a trusteeship, the trustee administers the trust in good faith, in accordance with its terms and purposes and the interests of the beneficiaries, and in accordance with New Jersey's Uniform Trust Code and other applicable law. The duties that follow are the familiar ones in New Jersey's words: undivided loyalty (N.J.S.A. 3B:31-55), impartiality among two or more beneficiaries (N.J.S.A. 3B:31-56), prudent administration with reasonable care, skill and caution (N.J.S.A. 3B:31-57), reasonable steps to take control of and protect the trust property (N.J.S.A. 3B:31-63), adequate records and separate property (N.J.S.A. 3B:31-64), reasonable steps to compel a former trustee or other person to deliver trust property and to redress a former trustee's breach known to the trustee (N.J.S.A. 3B:31-66), and a review of the trust assets within six months after accepting them under the prudent investor act (N.J.S.A. 3B:20-11.7).
No notice to send — the information duty instead
New Jersey's trust code provides no notice for a trustee to send at the outset: none on accepting the trusteeship and none when the trust becomes irrevocable. N.J.S.A. 3B:31-67(a) provides instead that the trustee keeps the qualified beneficiaries reasonably informed about the administration of the trust and of the material facts necessary for them to protect their interests and, unless unreasonable under the circumstances, promptly responds to a beneficiary's request for information related to the administration; N.J.S.A. 3B:31-67(b) has the trustee, on a beneficiary's request, promptly furnish a copy of the trust instrument. The qualified beneficiaries are the beneficiaries who, on the date their qualification is determined, are distributees or permissible distributees of trust income or principal, or would be if the interests of the current distributees ended on that date or the trust terminated on that date (N.J.S.A. 3B:31-3).
The duties are default rules the terms of the trust may vary (N.J.S.A. 3B:31-5(a)) — except the duty to respond to the request of a qualified beneficiary of an irrevocable trust who has attained 35 for a copy of the instrument or for information reasonably related to the administration, which no instrument can remove (N.J.S.A. 3B:31-5(b)(7)); and while a trust is revocable, the trustee's duties are owed exclusively to the settlor (N.J.S.A. 3B:31-44). Who is a qualified beneficiary on a particular day, and whether the instrument varies a duty, are questions of the instrument's words and the family's facts — the kind a licensed New Jersey attorney of your choosing answers.
The estate beside the trust
A revocable trust rarely holds everything. Property left outside it passes by will or, without one, by intestacy (N.J.S.A. 3B:5-3; N.J.S.A. 3B:5-4), by beneficiary designation or by survivorship. Where an estate is opened, the personal representative mails the will's beneficiaries and the next of kin a notice of the probate within sixty days after it (R. 4:80-6), and the court may require an inventory, not before three months after the letters (N.J.S.A. 3B:16-2). Creditors present their claims to the personal representative in writing and under oath within nine months from the date of death (N.J.S.A. 3B:22-4).
New Jersey's Uniform Trust Code provides that after the settlor's death, and subject to the settlor's right to direct the source from which liabilities will be paid, the property of a trust that was revocable at the death is subject to the settlor's creditors, the costs of administration of the estate, the expenses of the funeral and disposal of remains, and the claims of a surviving spouse or civil-union partner and children, to the extent the probate estate is inadequate (N.J.S.A. 3B:31-39(a)(3)); whether and how far a particular trust answers is a question for a licensed New Jersey attorney of your choosing. New Jersey imposes no estate tax on the estate of a person dying on or after January 1, 2018 (N.J.S.A. 54:38-1), but it taxes a transfer of property worth $500 or more from a resident decedent by will, intestacy or a transfer taking effect at death, in trust or otherwise, at a rate that turns on the transferee's class (N.J.S.A. 54:34-1; N.J.S.A. 54:34-2) — the transfer inheritance tax a trustee holding taxed property answers for (N.J.S.A. 54:36-7).
Lwa yo, mo pou mo
Limitation of time to present claims of creditors to personal representative; discharge of personal representative where claim is not duly presented before distribution
N.J.S.A. 3B:22-4 ↗Eksplikasyon klè e senp; tèks egzak lwa a poko ateste nan bibliyotèk nou an. Gade lwa ofisyèl la nan lyen ki anwo a.
Accepting or declining trusteeship
N.J.S.A. 3B:31-46 ↗Eksplikasyon klè e senp; tèks egzak lwa a poko ateste nan bibliyotèk nou an. Gade lwa ofisyèl la nan lyen ki anwo a.
Duty to administer trust
N.J.S.A. 3B:31-54 ↗Eksplikasyon klè e senp; tèks egzak lwa a poko ateste nan bibliyotèk nou an. Gade lwa ofisyèl la nan lyen ki anwo a.
Duty to disclose and discretion to periodically report
N.J.S.A. 3B:31-67 ↗Eksplikasyon klè e senp; tèks egzak lwa a poko ateste nan bibliyotèk nou an. Gade lwa ofisyèl la nan lyen ki anwo a.
Kesyon moun poze souvan
How does a New Jersey successor trustee accept the office?
A trustee under a will by obtaining letters of trusteeship from the court that admitted the will (N.J.S.A. 3B:31-46(a)(1); N.J.S.A. 3B:11-2); any other trustee by substantially complying with a method the terms provide or, where they provide none or the method is not expressly exclusive, by accepting delivery of the trust property, exercising powers or performing duties as trustee, or otherwise indicating acceptance (N.J.S.A. 3B:31-46(a)(2)). A designated trustee who does not accept within a reasonable time after knowing of the designation is deemed to have renounced (N.J.S.A. 3B:31-46(b)).
Is there a notice after a New Jersey trustee accepts?
No. New Jersey enacted no trustee notice on accepting or on a trust's becoming irrevocable. N.J.S.A. 3B:31-67 has the trustee keep the qualified beneficiaries reasonably informed, respond promptly to a beneficiary's request for information and furnish a copy of the instrument on request; the trustee may provide a report of the administration (N.J.S.A. 3B:31-67(c)).
Does a New Jersey successor trustee need a court order to act?
A trustee of a living trust does not: a trustee of a nontestamentary trust accepts by the instrument's method or by conduct (N.J.S.A. 3B:31-46(a)(2)) and may furnish a person other than a beneficiary — a bank, for instance — a certification of trust instead of the instrument (N.J.S.A. 3B:31-81(a)). A trustee under a will obtains letters of trusteeship from the Surrogate's Court of the county that admitted the will (N.J.S.A. 3B:11-2; R. 4:80-9), and no fiduciary transfers estate property to a testamentary trustee before the letters issue (N.J.S.A. 3B:23-23).
Lekti ki gen rapò
Sant Aprantisaj la se enfòmasyon jeneral sou lwa New Jersey — se pa konsèy legal, e li pa ranplase konsèy yon avoka New Jersey ki gen lisans sou reyalite pa ou. TrusteeClear se yon lojisyèl, pa yon kabinè avoka.