2005 California Financial Code Sections 1580-1591 Article 5. General

1580.  A trust company has the following powers:
   (a) It may act, or may be appointed by any court to act, in like
manner as an individual, as executor, administrator, guardian or
conservator of estates, assignee, receiver, depositary, trustee,
custodian, or in any other fiduciary or representative capacity for
any purpose permitted by law, may act as transfer agent or registrar
of corporate stocks and bonds, may buy and sell securities for the
account of customers, and may accept and execute any trust business
permitted by any law of this or any other state or of the United
States to be taken, accepted, or executed by an individual; and
   (b) A trust company, upon becoming a member of the Federal Reserve
System, shall continue to have such powers as may then or thereafter
be conferred upon it by the laws of this State, subject to such
federal rules, regulations, and laws as may govern state banks
exercising trust powers or trust companies which become members of
the Federal Reserve System.
1581.  For the purposes of this chapter, all trusts and other
business permitted to be accepted or executed by a trust company are
hereby classified and defined as either court trusts or private
trusts.
   A "court trust" is one in which a trust company acts under
appointment, order, or decree of any court, as executor,
administrator, guardian, conservator, assignee, receiver, depositary,
or trustee, or in which it receives on deposit money or property
from a public administrator, under any provision of this code, or
from any executor, administrator, guardian, assignee, receiver,
depositary, or trustee, under any order or decree of any court.
   A "private trust" is every other trust, agency, fiduciary
relationship, or representative capacity.
1582.  A trust company, its officers and employees, shall not
disclose any information to any person concerning the existence,
condition, management, and administration of any private trust
confided to it, except:
   (a) Where such disclosure is specifically authorized by the terms
of the trust.
   (b) Where such disclosure is determined by an officer of the trust
company to be necessary in the administration of such trust.
   (c) Where such disclosure is required by a court of competent
jurisdiction or by a subpoena issued by an attorney pursuant to
Section 1985 of the Code of Civil Procedure.
   (d) Where such disclosure is made to, or upon the instructions of,
any party executing the trust instrument.
   (e) Where such disclosure refers to an irrevocable trust, to, or
upon the instructions of, any beneficiary thereunder whether or not
presently entitled to receive benefits therefrom.
   (f) Where such disclosure is made to the commissioner in the
course of an examination.
1583.  The commissioner shall examine the court trust business of a
trust company at least once every two calendar years and shall
examine the private trust business at such times and to such extent
as he or she may deem necessary or advisable.
1584.  In making the reports to the commissioner required by this
division, every trust company shall report, in addition to the other
facts called for, separately, the amount of real property and the
amount of personal property held by such trust company in both its
court trusts and in its private trusts.
1586.  Any court having jurisdiction of any executor, administrator,
guardian, conservator, assignee, receiver, depositary, or trustee,
upon the application of any such officer or trustee or upon the
application of any person having an interest in the estate or
property administered by such officer or trustee, after such notice
to the other parties in interest as the court may direct, or without
notice if all parties in interest consent thereto, and after a
hearing upon such application, may authorize or direct such officer
or trustee, whether such person has duly qualified or not, to deposit
any moneys then in his hands or which may come into his hands
thereafter, and such portion or all of the personal assets of such
estate as the court shall deem proper for safekeeping, with any such
trust company.  Upon such deposit being made the court shall by an
order of record reduce the bond to be given, or theretofore given, by
such officer or trustee so as to cover only the estate remaining in
the hands of such officer or trustee.  The money and property so
deposited shall thereupon and thereafter be held by such trust
company under the order and direction of the court.
   Such trust company shall not be required to give any bond or
security, except as provided in this division, in case of any deposit
of moneys or other personal assets with it under this section.  Its
responsibility for the safekeeping of personal assets so deposited
with it shall be that of a bailee for hire.
1586.5.  Securities held by a trust company by direction of any
court order issued pursuant to Section 1586 may be deposited,
pursuant to the provisions of Section 775, in a securities
depository, as defined in Section 30004, which is licensed under
Section 30200 or exempted from licensing thereunder by Section 30005
or 30006.
1587.  Whenever an executor, administrator, guardian or conservator
of estates, assignee, receiver, depositary, or trustee is required to
qualify by taking and subscribing an oath or to make an affidavit,
any trust company acting in any such capacity may satisfy such
requirement by the oath or affidavit of its president, vice
president, secretary, assistant secretary, manager, trust officer, or
assistant trust officer.  Any such trust company shall be liable for
its failure to perform any of the duties required by law to be
performed by an individual acting in like capacity and shall be
subject to the same penalties for such failure as would be applicable
to an individual.
1588.  Whenever any corporation desires to withdraw from and
discontinue doing a trust business, it shall furnish to the
commissioner satisfactory evidence of its release and discharge from
all the obligations and trusts which it has assumed or which have
been imposed on it by law.  Thereupon the commissioner shall revoke
his or her certificate of authority to do a trust business, and the
State Treasurer shall return to it all of the securities deposited by
it.  Thereafter such corporation shall not be permitted to use and
shall not use the word "trust" in its corporate name, or in
connection with its business.
1589.  The validity or legality of any act or proceeding done or
taken by any trust company, relating to or in connection with the
administration of its court and private trusts, shall not be affected
or impaired by the neglect or failure of such trust company, or of
any officer or employee thereof, to comply with any of the provisions
of this division.  All such acts and proceedings done or taken prior
to the revocation of its certificate of authority to do a trust
business by the commissioner, under the provisions of this division,
or the revocation by any court or judge thereof of the appointment,
order, or decree theretofore entered in such trust matter, shall be
as valid and effective for all purposes as if any such neglect or
failure had not occurred.
1590.  Nothing in this chapter shall make it unlawful for any person
or corporation to engage in the business of receiving and holding
money in escrow or of acting as trustee under deeds of trust given
solely for the purpose of securing obligations for the repayment of
money other than corporate bonds.
1591.  A bank or trust company shall not mingle trust funds received
by it with other assets of the corporation or association and such
funds shall not be used in the conduct of its business except to the
extent that such funds are deposited with the same corporation or
association in accordance with the provisions of this division.  Any
officer of any bank or association who knowingly violates or consents
to the violation of this section is guilty of a felony.