When North Carolina trust beneficiaries disagree

Impartiality

Where a trust has two or more beneficiaries, N.C. Gen. Stat. § 36C-8-803 provides that the trustee acts impartially in investing, managing and distributing the trust property, giving due regard to the beneficiaries' respective interests.

Settling by agreement

The interested persons — those whose consent a court-approved settlement would need — may enter into a binding nonjudicial settlement agreement on five listed matters: approving a trustee's report or accounting; directing or empowering the trustee; a trustee's resignation, appointment or compensation; moving the principal place of administration; and liability for those actions (N.C. Gen. Stat. § 36C-1-111). Mediation, arbitration and other dispute resolution are among the trustee's powers (N.C. Gen. Stat. § 36C-8-816(23)).

The clerk of superior court

The clerks of superior court have original jurisdiction over proceedings concerning the internal affairs of trusts — appointing and removing trustees, reviewing fees, settling accounts and determining questions of administration — with the construction questions movable to the superior court (N.C. Gen. Stat. § 36C-2-203). A contested proceeding is docketed as an estate matter, with a summons to answer within 20 days (N.C. Gen. Stat. § 36C-2-205(a)).

Removal and remedies

The court may remove a trustee for a serious breach, a lack of cooperation among co-trustees that substantially impairs the administration, unfitness, unwillingness or persistent failure to administer effectively, or a substantial change of circumstances where removal serves all the beneficiaries and a suitable successor is available (N.C. Gen. Stat. § 36C-7-706). To remedy a breach the court may, among other things, compel performance, order an account, appoint a special fiduciary or reduce compensation (N.C. Gen. Stat. § 36C-10-1001).

The statutes, verbatim

• Nonjudicial settlement agreements

  N.C. Gen. Stat. § 36C-1-111 ↗

  Clear, simple explanation; the verbatim statute text is not yet attested in our library. See the official statute via the link above.

• Subject matter jurisdiction (the clerk of superior court)

  N.C. Gen. Stat. § 36C-2-203 ↗

  Clear, simple explanation; the verbatim statute text is not yet attested in our library. See the official statute via the link above.

• Removal of trustee

  N.C. Gen. Stat. § 36C-7-706 ↗

  Clear, simple explanation; the verbatim statute text is not yet attested in our library. See the official statute via the link above.

• Impartiality

  N.C. Gen. Stat. § 36C-8-803 ↗

  Clear, simple explanation; the verbatim statute text is not yet attested in our library. See the official statute via the link above.

Common questions

Frequently asked questions

Who decides a North Carolina trust dispute?

The clerk of superior court, in most matters of a trust's internal affairs (N.C. Gen. Stat. § 36C-2-203(a)); the superior court in an action for damages, by or against creditors, or to modify or terminate a trust (N.C. Gen. Stat. § 36C-2-203(f)).

Can North Carolina beneficiaries settle without court?

Yes, on the five matters N.C. Gen. Stat. § 36C-1-111 lists, by a binding nonjudicial settlement agreement among the interested persons, valid to the extent it does not violate a material purpose of the trust.

Can North Carolina beneficiaries remove a trustee?

Not by themselves; the settlor, a co-trustee or a beneficiary of an irrevocable trust may ask the court, which may remove a trustee on the grounds N.C. Gen. Stat. § 36C-7-706(b) lists.

General information about North Carolina law, not legal advice.