2011 Connecticut Code
Title 45a Probate Courts and Procedure
Chapter 802 Fiduciaries
Sec. 45a-235. (Formerly Sec. 45-100f). Additional powers.

      Sec. 45a-235. (Formerly Sec. 45-100f). Additional powers. Additional Powers. - Any one or more or all of the following additional powers or any portion thereof may be incorporated by reference, as provided in section 45a-233(a) but only to the extent they are individually referred to in such will or other instrument.

      (1) Stock of Fiduciary. -To retain and invest and reinvest in and purchase any stock or other securities issued by the fiduciary in its individual capacity, or by any parent holding company of the fiduciary, including any stock dividends thereon and any securities issued in lieu thereof as the result of any recapitalization, reorganization, consolidation or merger. Furthermore the fiduciary may exercise or sell any rights, or exercise part and sell part thereof, including rights to buy fractional shares, issued to it by reason of its ownership of any such security; and may retain and hold any security so acquired and vote and issue general or limited proxies to vote said stock.

      (2) Buy Insurance and Annuities. -To retain and to purchase insurance contracts, on the life of any beneficiary or of any person in whom a beneficiary has an insurable interest, or annuity contracts for any beneficiary and to pay the premiums thereon out of such beneficiary's portion of principal or income as the fiduciary, in its discretion, shall determine.

      (3) Invest in Partnerships, etc. -To retain, invest and reinvest in partnerships, joint ventures, leases, real estate syndicates, small business investment companies and hedge funds.

      (4) Speculative Assets. -To retain, trade and speculate in any real, personal or mixed property as the fiduciary shall deem advisable, wherever situated, including but not limited to: (A) Any one or more or all commodities and commodity options regularly traded on exchanges in or outside the United States, in either spot or futures contracts, claims, straddles, spreads or any other type of commodity contract, whether long or short; (B) puts, calls, straddles and options in any domestic or foreign securities and short sales of such contracts and of securities; (C) interests in oil, gas, coal, gravel, sand, timber, sulphur, precious and semiprecious stones, minerals, metals and their ores, including but not limited to iron, aluminum, copper, rhodium, palladium, platinum, radium, uranium and gold and silver bullion, bars, bricks and coins, and any other mineral and timber rights, royalties, leases and payments, and interests in computer hardware and software; (D) any interests in breeding or dairy cattle, horses, hogs, sheep, dogs, cats or other animals; (E) postage and revenue stamps, postal covers, coins, jewelry, rare books, paintings, etchings, statues, sculptures, antiques, curios, antique firearms and edged weapons, and other collectible items and art objects; (F) aircraft, ships, railroad locomotives, rolling stock, buses, antique automobiles and other vehicles; (G) foreign currencies and United States Treasury bills including futures contracts in such assets, whether long or short.

      (5) Oil and Gas Interests. -To have power with respect to oil, natural gas, minerals, and all other natural resources and rights to any interests therein, together with all equipment rights pertaining thereto, including oil and gas royalties, leases, payments, or other oil and gas interests of any character, whether owned in fee, as lessee, lessor, licensee, concessionaire or otherwise, either alone or jointly with others as partner, joint tenant, or joint venturer or in any other noncorporate manner, to: (A) Make oil, gas and mineral leases or subleases; (B) pay delayed rents, lease bonuses, royalties, overriding royalties, taxes, assessments, and all other charges; (C) sell, lease, exchange, mortgage, pledge or otherwise hypothecate any or all of such rights and interests; (D) surrender or abandon, with or without consideration, any or all of such rights and interests; (E) make farm-out, pooling, repressuration and unitization agreements; (F) make reservations or impose conditions on the transfer of any such rights or interests; (G) employ the most advantageous business form in which properly to exploit such rights and interests, whether as corporations, general or limited partnerships, mining partnerships, joint ventures, cotenancies, or otherwise; (H) drill, test, explore, mine, develop and otherwise exploit any and all such rights and interests; (I) produce, process, sell or exchange all products recovered through the exploitation of such rights and interests, and to enter into contracts and agreements for or in respect of the installation or operation of absorption, reprocessing or other processing plants; (J) carry any or all such interests in the name or names of a nominee or nominees; (K) delegate, to the extent permitted by law, any or all of the powers set forth herein to the operator of such property; and (L) employ personnel, rent office space, buy or lease office equipment, contract and pay for geological surveys and studies, procure appraisals, and generally to conduct and engage in any and all activities incident to the foregoing powers, with full power to borrow and pledge in order to finance such activities. The fiduciary shall have the right to rely on the judgment and recommendations of the operators of such property and need not make an independent investigation before acting on their reasonable recommendations.

      (6) Form Corporation or Other Entity. -To form a corporation or other entity under the laws of any jurisdiction and to transfer, assign, and convey to such corporation or entity all or any part of the estate or of any trust property in exchange for the stock, securities or obligations of any such corporation or entity, and to continue to hold such stock, securities and obligations.

      (7) Fiduciary May Become Director or Officer. -To vote for any individual fiduciary or any employee, officer or director of any corporate fiduciary, to be a director, officer, or both, of any corporation or small business investment company in which the estate or trust may be interested and to belong to any committee relating in any way to such corporation or company; and to serve as such director, officer, committee member, or any or all of them, and receive proper remuneration for such services, and to exercise its discretion with respect to all matters concerning the affairs of such corporation or company, and to consent to corporate or partnership sales, exchanges, leases, mortgages and encumbrances, without in any way being accountable for any such acts to any beneficiaries.

      (8) Operate Farm. -To continue any agricultural operation received by the fiduciary pursuant to the will or other instrument and to do any and all things deemed advisable by the fiduciary in the management and maintenance of any farm, which term includes, but is not limited to, a farm, garden, orchard, ranch, timber tract or dairy; and to do any and all things concerning the production and marketing of crops and dairy, poultry, livestock, orchard and forest products including but not limited to the following powers: (A) To operate the farm with hired labor, tenants or sharecroppers; (B) to lease or rent the farm for cash or for a share of the crops; (C) to purchase or otherwise acquire farm machinery and equipment and livestock; (D) to undertake the construction, repairs and improvements to farm buildings of all kinds needed in the fiduciary's judgment, for the operation of the farm; (E) to make or obtain loans or advances at the prevailing rate or rates of interest for farm purposes such as for production, harvesting, or marketing, or for the construction, repair, or improvement of farm building, or for the purchase of farm machinery or equipment or livestock; (F) to employ approved soil conservation practices in order to conserve, improve, and maintain the fertility and productivity of the soil; (G) to protect, manage and improve the timber and forest on the farm and sell the timber and forest products when it is for the best interest of the estate, or any trust; (H) to ditch, dam and drain damp or wet fields and areas of the farm when and where needed; (I) to engage in the production of livestock, poultry or dairy products, and to construct such fences and buildings and plant such pastures and crops as may be necessary to carry on such operations; (J) to market the products of the farm; (K) in general, to employ good husbandry in the operation of the farm.

      (9) Residential Realty. -To retain any residential real property or apartment and the contents of said real property or apartment received by it hereunder, to purchase, to rent and to maintain residential real property including an ordinary, cooperative or condominium apartment for occupancy, rent free, by any of the beneficiaries hereunder, so long as one or more of them wish to use and occupy it as a home, and to sell it when it is no longer so used and occupied, to pay all rent, taxes, assessments, repairs and other charges for maintaining such real and personal property or apartment, including title, public liability, fire and extended coverage insurance, and to make such purchases or payments out of such beneficiary's portion of the principal or income, in accordance with applicable law, as the fiduciary in its sole discretion shall determine.

      (10) Deal with Estate and Trust. -To deal in every way with the estate and trust of the settlor or testator, including but not limited to the purchase from, the sale to, the exchange of assets with such estate and trust, or the making of loans thereto, either secured or unsecured and either interest-free or at such rates of interest as the fiduciary shall determine, and to make loans from an estate to a trust, in the discretion of the fiduciary. The powers described herein may be exercised by the fiduciary even though it is the legal representative of the estate, and the fiduciary shall not incur any liability for any loss resulting from the exercise of any such power.

      (11) Suits on Insurance Policies. -To institute any proceeding at law or in equity to enforce the payment of any life insurance policy payable to the fiduciary and to do any and all things which it in its sole discretion deems advisable for the purpose of collecting any sums which may be due or payable under any such policy, provided, that the fiduciary shall be under no obligation to institute or enter into any such litigation to enforce the payment of any such policy until it shall have been indemnified to its satisfaction against all expenses and liabilities to which it may, in its judgment, be subjected by any such action on its part.

      (12) Advancement of Income. -The fiduciary, other than a beneficiary serving as a fiduciary, shall have the discretion to advance income to or for the use of any beneficiary and the fiduciary shall have a lien therefor on that beneficiary's future benefits.

      (13) Majority Action Permissible. -Where there are three or more fiduciaries, the decision of a majority of the fiduciaries shall bind all of the fiduciaries, but an absent or dissenting fiduciary who joins in carrying out the decision of the majority shall not be liable for the consequences of any majority decision if said absent or dissenting fiduciary promptly files a written notice, by certified mail, of his dissent with its cofiduciaries and with (A) the probate court having jurisdiction over any estate or trust or (B) the income beneficiaries of any inter vivos trust, provided that liability for failure to join in administering the estate or trust or in preventing a breach of the trust may not thus be avoided.

      (14) Reduce Interest Rates. -To reduce the interest rate from time to time on any obligation, whether secured or unsecured, constituting a part of an estate or trust.

      (15) Establish and Maintain Reserves. -In lieu of the basic power specified in subdivision (28) of section 45a-234, the fiduciary shall have the power to set up proper and reasonable reserves for taxes, assessments, insurance premiums, depreciation-obsolescence, amortization, depletion, other than percentage depletion, of mineral, timber or other wasting assets, and for repairs, improvements, and general maintenance of buildings, or other property out of rents, profits, or other income received; and to set up reserves also for the equalization of payments to or for beneficiaries; provided that the provisions of this subdivision shall not affect the ultimate interests of beneficiaries in such reserves, although no beneficiary may compel distribution of amounts held in such reserves.

      (16) Investment Philosophy. -To invest with emphasis on growth and capital appreciation, and to apply the same criteria to both new assets and those already in the estate or trust. The fiduciary shall not be liable for any good faith action taken by it but only for negligence, since some assets in which it is authorized to invest are not ordinarily deemed suitable for fiduciary investment.

      (17) Investment during Estate Administration. -To invest and reinvest the assets of the estate actively and aggressively during the period of administration thereof.

      (18) Premium and Discount. -To determine whether or not to amortize from income as a sinking fund any premium paid to acquire property and to accrue any discount received at the time of acquisition thereof.

      (19) Remortgage and Refinance Real Estate. -To remortgage and refinance real estate for any one or more of the following purposes: (A) Business reasons; (B) to obtain funds to pay (i) estate, inheritance, transfer, succession, generation-skipping or other death taxes or duties; (ii) income, property, excise or other similar taxes; (iii) interest and penalties on any tax; and (iv) debts and funeral and administration expenses of the settlor or testator; or (C) to invest or reinvest or speculate in real, personal or mixed property of any description and wherever situated.

      (20) Terminate Small Trusts. -To terminate any trust by distributing to the then income beneficiary of such trust the entire principal thereof, or an annuity purchased therewith, absolutely and free of trust, if the fiduciary, other than a beneficiary or the settlor serving as such, in its sole discretion, deems continuation of such trust unwarranted in view of the size of the trust.

      (21) Distribute Directly to Remaindermen. -To distribute property directly from the estate to the remaindermen of any trust, without the interposition of such trust, if the facts at the time for such distribution are such that no trust of such property would be operative under the terms of the will.

      (22) Disclaimer of Power. -To disclaim part or all of any one or more of the incorporated or specifically granted powers of the fiduciary by instrument in writing filed with the will, trust or other instrument incorporating this power and by complying with the provisions of sections 45a-578 to 45a-585, inclusive.

      (23) Comply with Stock Restrictions. -To observe and comply with any limitations on the disposition of any stock existing in the articles of incorporation, bylaws or other contract affecting such shares.

      (24) Continue Subchapter S election. -To file appropriate consent to the continuation of any Subchapter S election in existence at the time of the testator's death, within the period required by the applicable provision of the Federal Internal Revenue Code then in effect.

      (25) Acquire Interest in Trust Asset. -To acquire an undivided or an individual interest in a trust or estate asset in which the fiduciary, in any fiduciary capacity, holds an undivided interest.

      (26) Income to Custodian for Minor. -Any and all income or principal that is distributed, paid to or applied for the benefit of a minor may, in the discretion of the fiduciary, be paid to any person or corporation who is serving as a custodian for the benefit of said minor under the Uniform Gifts to Minors Act or Uniform Transfers to Minors Act. If there is no such custodian, the fiduciary may appoint an adult member of the minor's family, a guardian of the minor, a bank with trust powers, or himself, herself or itself to serve as such custodian and receive such payments.

      (27) General Powers. -To exercise every power and discretion in the management of the estate and the trusts created hereunder as the fiduciary would have if it were the absolute owner thereof. This general power shall not be limited in any way by the powers incorporated or granted herein, but no beneficiary serving as a cofiduciary may participate in any decision, under this or any other power, that affects or could affect the share of such beneficiary relative to that of any other beneficiary in income, principal or in a trust remainder.

      (1969, P.A. 827, S. 3; 1971, P.A. 556, S. 19-25; 1972, P.A. 169, S. 2; P.A. 77-271, S. 1; P.A. 78-198, S. 5, 6; P.A. 80-410, S. 11-13, 21; 80-476, S. 206; P.A. 81-396, S. 4, 5; P.A. 83-520, S. 5, 6; P.A. 95-117, S. 25.)

      History: 1971 act authorized investment in and purchase of stock or securities issued by fiduciary's parent holding company in Subdiv. (1), added reference to "repressuration" agreements in Subdiv. (5)(E) and deleted reference to power to allocate proceeds received as consideration for severance of lands of various minerals and natural resources in (5)(L), added reference to apartments in Subdiv. (9), specified that power in Subdiv. (15) are in lieu of basic powers under Sec. 45-100e(28) and deleted provision requiring fiduciary to set up reserves when instrument provides for a charitable organization as a remainder fiduciary and added Subdivs. (16) to (27); 1972 act added Subdiv. (16)(a) and (b); P.A. 77-271 deleted Subdiv. (16)(a) and (b) re deposits in clearing corporations; P.A. 78-198 replaced former Subdiv. (26) re "Distribution of ordinary income portion of the lump sum received from a qualified plan" with new provisions re "Income to custodian for minor"; P.A. 80-410 added reference to commodity options in Subdiv. (4)(A), to revenue stamps and postal covers in (4)(E), to rolling stock in (4)(F) and to treasury bills in (4)(G), included personal property in Subdiv. (9) and rephrased Subdiv. (22), replacing "document" with "will, trust or other instrument" and reference to compliance with chapter 798; P.A. 80-476 reiterated change re "document" in Subdiv. (22); P.A. 81-396 amended Subdiv. (4) to include options in any domestic or foreign securities, interests in timber, semiprecious stones, minerals, radium, gold and silver bullion, bars, bricks and coins, horses, dogs, cats, etchings, antique firearms and edged weapons, collectible items and United States treasurybills and amended Subdiv. (19) to include generation-skipping taxes; P.A. 83-520 amended Subdiv. (10) by adding the words "and trust", permitting the making of interest free loans, and permitting the making of loans from an estate to a trust, in the discretion of the fiduciary and added "and interests in computer hardware and software" in Subdiv. (4)(C); Sec. 45-100f transferred to Sec. 45a-235 in 1991; P.A. 95-117 amended Subdiv. (26) to include reference to Uniform Transfers to Minors Act.

      Annotations to former section 45-100f:

      Cited. 166 C. 21. Cited. 178 C. 42.