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You were named successor trustee. What does Arizona law expect?

Being named trustee is a legal office with statutory duties, not just a family responsibility. This guide explains, in plain language, what the Arizona Trust Code generally expects of a person who has just been named successor trustee — and where each expectation comes from.

Повний текст цього посібника англійською; короткий виклад вище — вашою мовою. Виклади законів і англійський текст залишаються джерелом запису.

Getting started · 6 хв читання

Accepting the office

A person named as trustee becomes trustee by accepting. A.R.S. § 14-10701 provides that acceptance happens by substantially complying with a method of acceptance the trust instrument provides or — where the instrument provides none, or its method is not expressly exclusive — by accepting delivery of the trust property, exercising powers or performing duties as trustee, or otherwise indicating acceptance. A designated trustee who does not accept within a reasonable time after knowing of the designation is deemed to have rejected.

Before accepting, a designee may act to preserve the trust property if a rejection is sent within a reasonable time afterward, and may inspect or investigate the property (A.R.S. § 14-10701(C)). A successor takes reasonable steps to compel a former trustee to deliver the trust property and to redress a breach the successor knows the former trustee committed (§ 14-10812).

The duties that apply from the first day

A.R.S. § 14-10801 provides that, on accepting, a trustee administers the trust in good faith, in accordance with its terms and purposes and the interests of the beneficiaries, and in accordance with the Arizona Trust Code. The duties that follow each have their own section: loyalty (§ 14-10802), impartiality (§ 14-10803), prudent administration (§ 14-10804), taking control of and protecting the property (§ 14-10809), and keeping adequate records with trust property kept separate (§ 14-10810).

Two notices, each with sixty days

Arizona's trust code provides two notices to the qualified beneficiaries. Within sixty days after acquiring knowledge that the trust is irrevocable — created irrevocable, or a formerly revocable trust become irrevocable by the settlor's death or otherwise — the trustee notifies them of the trust's existence, of the identity of the settlor or settlors, of the trustee's name, address and telephone number, of the right to request a copy of the relevant portions of the trust instrument and of the right to a trustee's report (A.R.S. § 14-10813(B)(3)). Within sixty days after accepting, the trustee notifies them of the acceptance and of the trustee's contact details (§ 14-10813(B)(2)).

A qualified beneficiary is, on the date the question is asked, a distributee or permissible distributee of trust income or principal, or a person who would be one if the current interests or the trust ended that day (A.R.S. § 14-10103(14)). Who that is depends on the trust's own terms and on the date.

The estate beside the trust

A revocable trust rarely holds everything. Property left outside it passes by beneficiary designation, by joint ownership or community property with survivorship, under a recorded beneficiary deed, through the small estate affidavits, or through the probate estate, whose personal representative publishes a notice to creditors and mails it to the known creditors (A.R.S. § 14-3801).

The estate's needs can reach the trust: the property of a trust that was revocable at the settlor's death answers for the settlor's creditors' claims, the costs of administering the estate, the funeral expenses and the statutory allowances to the extent the probate estate is inadequate (A.R.S. § 14-10505(A)(3)). The trustee may, but need not, give the trust's own notice to creditors (§ 14-6103).

Закони, дослівно

  • Creditor's claim against settlor

    A.R.S. § 14-10505 ↗

    Зрозуміле просте пояснення; дослівний текст статуту ще не засвідчено в нашій бібліотеці. Дивіться офіційний статут за посиланням вище.

  • Accepting or declining trusteeship

    A.R.S. § 14-10701 ↗

    Зрозуміле просте пояснення; дослівний текст статуту ще не засвідчено в нашій бібліотеці. Дивіться офіційний статут за посиланням вище.

  • Duty to administer trust

    A.R.S. § 14-10801 ↗

    Зрозуміле просте пояснення; дослівний текст статуту ще не засвідчено в нашій бібліотеці. Дивіться офіційний статут за посиланням вище.

  • Duty to inform and report

    A.R.S. § 14-10813 ↗

    Зрозуміле просте пояснення; дослівний текст статуту ще не засвідчено в нашій бібліотеці. Дивіться офіційний статут за посиланням вище.

Поширені запитання

How does an Arizona successor trustee accept the office?

By substantially complying with the method of acceptance the trust instrument provides or, where it provides none or its method is not expressly exclusive, by accepting delivery of the trust property, exercising powers or performing duties as trustee (A.R.S. § 14-10701(A)).

Does an Arizona trustee have to notify anyone when the settlor dies?

Arizona's trust code provides for a notice to the qualified beneficiaries within sixty days after the trustee acquires knowledge that the trust has become irrevocable, of its existence and their rights (A.R.S. § 14-10813(B)(3)), beside the notice within sixty days after accepting (§ 14-10813(B)(2)).

Where do an Arizona trustee's duties come from?

From the trust's own terms and the Arizona Trust Code (A.R.S. § 14-10801 through § 14-10813); the terms prevail except where the Code's mandatory rules apply (§ 14-10105).

Навчальний центр — це загальна інформація про закони Аризони, а не юридична консультація і не заміна пораді ліцензованого юриста Аризони щодо ваших конкретних фактів. TrusteeClear — це програма, а не юридична фірма.