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

Accepting, or declining, the office

A person designated as trustee becomes trustee by accepting. Tenn. Code Ann. § 35-15-701(a) provides that a 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. A designee who has not accepted may reject the trusteeship, and one who does not accept within a reasonable time after knowing of the designation and of the trust's assets is deemed to have rejected it (Tenn. Code Ann. § 35-15-701(b)); before deciding, a designee may act to preserve the trust property if a rejection is sent within a reasonable time to the settlor or, where the settlor is dead or lacks capacity, to a qualified beneficiary (Tenn. Code Ann. § 35-15-701(c)).

Where no cotrustee remains, a vacancy is filled by the person the terms designate, then by a person the qualified beneficiaries appoint unanimously, then by the court (Tenn. Code Ann. § 35-15-704(c)). A trustee who lives outside Tennessee may serve (Tenn. Code Ann. § 35-50-107(a)(2)(D)) after appointing the Secretary of State as agent for service of process, before acting, with a $10 fee (Tenn. Code Ann. § 35-50-107(b)(2)).

The duties that apply from the first day

Under Tenn. Code Ann. § 35-15-801, on accepting a trusteeship the trustee administers the trust in good faith, in accordance with its terms and purposes, the interests of the beneficiaries and the code. The duties that follow are the familiar ones in Tennessee's words: loyalty, administering the trust solely in the beneficiaries' interests (Tenn. Code Ann. § 35-15-802(a)); impartiality, giving due regard to the beneficiaries' respective interests (Tenn. Code Ann. § 35-15-803); administering the trust as a prudent person would, with reasonable care, skill and caution (Tenn. Code Ann. § 35-15-804); taking reasonable steps to take control of and protect the trust property (Tenn. Code Ann. § 35-15-809); and keeping adequate records, with the trust's property separate from the trustee's own (Tenn. Code Ann. § 35-15-810).

The initial notice, and its two facts

Tenn. Code Ann. § 35-15-813(b)(1) sets one window. Within 60 days after the acceptance and the funding of an irrevocable or nongrantor trust — nominal funding and insurance policies on a living person's life excluded — the trustee notifies each current income beneficiary, each vested ultimate beneficiary of a remainder interest and each nonfiduciary holder of a power of appointment that the trust has been established. The notice is sent by first-class mail or personal delivery, and consists of a complete copy of the instrument with the trustee's name, address and telephone number, or an abstract whose contents the statute prescribes for each class of recipient, in the trustee's absolute discretion (Tenn. Code Ann. § 35-15-813(b)(2), (3)).

The window runs from the later of two facts — the acceptance and the funding — so a trust funded in the settlor's life counts from the acceptance, and a trust funded afterwards from the funding. Tenn. Code Ann. § 35-15-813(e) makes the duty a default rule the terms or a written direction of a living settlor, trust advisor or trust protector may change, and subsection (f) keeps it from a trust that became irrevocable before July 1, 2004. Who is a current income beneficiary or a vested ultimate remainder beneficiary on a day, whether the trust was funded beyond a nominal corpus and whether the instrument changed the duty are questions of the instrument's words and the family's facts — the kind a licensed Tennessee 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 descent (Tenn. Code Ann. § 31-2-104), by beneficiary designation or by survivorship. Where a will leaves the residue to the trustee, the personal representative sends the trustee a complete copy of the will and the trustee sends copies to the trust's beneficiaries (Tenn. Code Ann. § 30-2-301(b)).

Tenn. Code Ann. § 35-15-505(a)(6) provides that, after the settlor's death, the property of a trust that was revocable at the death is subject to the settlor's creditors' claims, the costs of administration and the funeral expenses, and that a claim barred against the estate is barred against the trust; the estate's bars are four months from the clerk's first publication, 60 days from a creditor's receipt (Tenn. Code Ann. §§ 30-2-306, 30-2-307) and twelve months from the death regardless (Tenn. Code Ann. § 30-2-310(a)). Whether and how far a particular trust answers is a question for a licensed Tennessee attorney of your choosing.

Закони, дослівно

• Creditor's claims against settlor

  Tenn. Code Ann. § 35-15-505 ↗

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

• Accepting or declining trusteeship

  Tenn. Code Ann. § 35-15-701 ↗

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

• Duty to administer trust

  Tenn. Code Ann. § 35-15-801 ↗

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

• Duty to inform and report

  Tenn. Code Ann. § 35-15-813 ↗

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

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