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2020 Tennessee Code
Title 35 - Fiduciaries and Trust Estates
Chapter 15 - Tennessee Uniform Trust Code
Part 8 - Duties and Powers of Trustee
§ 35-15-816. Specific Powers of Trustee
Universal Citation:
TN Code § 35-15-816 (2020)
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- Any references contained in a will or trust incorporating by reference the powers enumerated in § 35-50-110 as they relate to a trustee will incorporate by reference the powers contained in this section.
- Unless the terms of the instrument expressly provide otherwise and without limiting the authority conferred by § 35-15-815, a trustee may:
- Collect trust property and accept or reject additions to the trust property from a settlor or any other person;
- Acquire or sell property, for cash or on credit, at public or private sale;
- Exchange, partition, or otherwise change the character of trust property;
- Deposit trust money in an account in a regulated financial-service institution;
- Borrow money, with or without security, and mortgage or pledge trust property for a period within or extending beyond the duration of the trust;
- With respect to an interest in a proprietorship, partnership, limited liability company, business trust, corporation, or other form of business or enterprise, continue the business or other enterprise and take any action that may be taken by shareholders, members, or property owners, including merging, dissolving, or otherwise changing the form of business organization or contributing additional capital;
- With respect to stocks or other securities, exercise the rights of an absolute owner, including the right to:
- Vote, or give proxies to vote, with or without power of substitution, or enter into or continue a voting trust agreement;
- Hold a security in the name of a nominee or in other form without disclosure of the trust so that title may pass by delivery;
- Pay calls, assessments, and other sums chargeable or accruing against the securities, and sell or exercise stock subscription or conversion rights; and
- Deposit the securities with a depository or other regulated financial service institution;
- With respect to an interest in real property, construct, or make ordinary or extraordinary repairs to, alterations to, or improvements in, buildings or other structures, demolish improvements, raze existing or erect new party walls or buildings, subdivide or develop land, dedicate land to public use or grant public or private easements, and make or vacate plats and adjust boundaries;
- Enter into a lease for any purpose as lessor or lessee, including a lease or other arrangement for exploration and removal of natural resources, with or without the option to purchase or renew, for a period within or extending beyond the duration of the trust;
- Grant an option involving a sale, lease, or other disposition of trust property or acquire an option for the acquisition of property, including an option exercisable beyond the duration of the trust, and exercise an option so acquired;
- Insure the property of the trust against damage or loss and insure the trustee, the trustee's agents, and beneficiaries against liability arising from the administration of the trust;
- Abandon or decline to administer property of no value or of insufficient value to justify its collection or continued administration;
- With respect to possible liability for violation of environmental law:
- Inspect or investigate property the trustee holds or has been asked to hold, or property owned or operated by an organization in which the trustee holds or has been asked to hold an interest, for the purpose of determining the application of environmental law with respect to the property;
- Take action to prevent, abate, or otherwise remedy any actual or potential violation of any environmental law affecting property held directly or indirectly by the trustee, whether taken before or after the assertion of a claim or the initiation of governmental enforcement;
- Decline to accept property into trust or disclaim any power with respect to property that is or may be burdened with liability for violation of environmental law;
- Compromise claims against the trust which may be asserted for an alleged violation of environmental law; and
- Pay the expense of any inspection, review, abatement, or remedial action to comply with environmental law;
- Pay or contest any claim, settle a claim by or against the trust, and release, in whole or in part, a claim belonging to the trust;
- Pay taxes, assessments, compensation of the trustee and of employees and agents of the trust, and other expenses incurred in the administration of the trust;
- Exercise elections with respect to federal, state, and local taxes;
- Select a mode of payment under any employee benefit or retirement plan, annuity, or life insurance payable to the trustee, exercise rights thereunder, including exercise of the right to indemnification for expenses and against liabilities, and take appropriate action to collect the proceeds;
- Make loans out of trust property, including loans to a beneficiary on terms and conditions the trustee considers to be fair and reasonable under the circumstances, and the trustee has a lien on future distributions for repayment of those loans;
- Pledge trust property to guarantee loans made by others to the beneficiary;
- Appoint a trustee to act in another jurisdiction with respect to trust property located in the other jurisdiction, confer upon the appointed trustee all of the powers and duties of the appointing trustee, require that the appointed trustee furnish security, and remove any trustee so appointed;
- Pay an amount distributable to a beneficiary who is under a legal disability or who the trustee reasonably believes is incapacitated, by paying it directly to the beneficiary or applying it for the beneficiary's benefit, or by:
- Paying it to the beneficiary's conservator or, if the beneficiary does not have a conservator, the beneficiary's guardian;
- Paying it to the beneficiary's custodian under the Uniform Transfers to Minors Act, compiled in title 35, chapter 7, part 2, and, for that purpose, creating a custodianship or custodial trust;
- If the trustee does not know of a conservator, guardian, custodian, or custodial trustee, paying it to an adult relative or other person having legal or physical care or custody of the beneficiary, to be expended on the beneficiary's behalf; or
- Managing it as a separate fund on the beneficiary's behalf, subject to the beneficiary's continuing right to withdraw the distribution;
- On distribution of trust property or the division or termination of a trust, make distributions in divided or undivided interests, allocate particular assets in proportionate or disproportionate shares, value the trust property for those purposes, and adjust for resulting differences in valuation and basis for income tax purposes;
- Resolve a dispute concerning the interpretation of the trust or its administration by mediation, arbitration, or other procedure for alternative dispute resolution;
- Prosecute or defend an action, claim, or judicial proceeding in any jurisdiction to protect trust property and the trustee in the performance of the trustee's duties;
- Sign and deliver contracts and other instruments that are useful to achieve or facilitate the exercise of the trustee's powers;
- On termination of the trust, exercise the powers appropriate to wind up the administration of the trust and distribute the trust property to the persons entitled to it; and
- Unless the terms of the instrument expressly provide otherwise:
- A trustee who has authority, under the terms of a testamentary instrument or irrevocable inter vivos trust agreement, to invade the principal of a trust to make distributions to, or for the benefit of, one or more proper objects of the exercise of the power, may instead exercise such authority by appointing all or part of the principal of the trust in favor of a trustee of a trust under an instrument other than that under which the power to invade is created or under the same instrument; provided, however, that the exercise of such authority:
- Does not reduce any fixed income interest of any income beneficiary of the trust; and
- Is in favor of the proper objects of the exercise of the power;
- The exercise of the power to invade the principal of the trust under subdivision (b)(27)(A) shall be by an instrument in writing, signed and acknowledged by the trustee and filed with the records of the trust;
- The exercise of the power to invade principal of the trust under subdivision (b)(27)(A) shall not extend the permissible period of the rule against perpetuities that applies to the trust;
- This section shall not be construed to abridge the right of any trustee who has a power of invasion to appoint property in further trust that arises under any other statute or under common law;
- The exercise of the power to appoint principal under subdivision (b)(27)(A) shall be considered an exercise of a power of appointment, other than a power to appoint to the trustee, the trustee's creditors, the trustee's estate, or the creditors of the trustee's estate;
- The second trust:
- May confer a power of appointment upon a beneficiary of the original trust to whom or for the benefit of whom the trustee has the power to distribute principal of the original trust;
- The permissible appointees of the power of appointment conferred upon a beneficiary may include persons who are not beneficiaries of the original or second trust; and
- The power of appointment conferred upon a beneficiary must preclude any exercise that would extend the permissible period of the rule against perpetuities that applies to the trust;
- If any contribution to the original trust qualified for the annual exclusion under § 2503(b) of the Internal Revenue Code (26 U.S.C. § 2503(b)), the marital deduction under §§ 2056(a) or 2523(a) of the Internal Revenue Code (26 U.S.C. §§ 2506(a) or 2523(a)), or the charitable deduction under §§ 170(a), 642(c), 2055(a) or 2522(a) of the Internal Revenue Code (26 U.S.C. §§ 170(a), 642(c), 2055(a) or 2522(a)), is a direct skip qualifying for treatment under § 2642(c) of the Internal Revenue Code (26 U.S.C. § 2642(c)), or qualified for any other specific tax benefit that would be lost by the existence of the authorized trustee's authority under subdivision (b)(27)(A) for income, gift, estate, or generation-skipping transfer tax purposes under the Internal Revenue Code, then the authorized trustee shall not have the power to distribute the principal of a trust pursuant to subdivision (b)(27)(A) in a manner that would prevent the contribution to the original trust from qualifying for or would reduce the exclusion, deduction, or other tax benefit that was originally claimed with respect to that contribution;
- During any period when the original trust owns stock in a subchapter S corporation as defined in § 1361(a)(1) of the Internal Revenue Code (26 U.S.C. § 1361(a)(1)), an authorized trustee shall not exercise a power authorized by subdivision (b)(27)(A) to distribute part or all of the stock of the S corporation to a second trust that is not a permitted shareholder under § 1361(c)(2) of the Internal Revenue Code (26 U.S.C. § 1361(c)(2));
- This section applies to any trust that is administered in this state; and
- For purposes of this section, the term “original trust” refers to the trust from which principal is being distributed and the phrase “second trust” refers to the trust to which assets are being distributed from the original trust.
- A trustee who has authority, under the terms of a testamentary instrument or irrevocable inter vivos trust agreement, to invade the principal of a trust to make distributions to, or for the benefit of, one or more proper objects of the exercise of the power, may instead exercise such authority by appointing all or part of the principal of the trust in favor of a trustee of a trust under an instrument other than that under which the power to invade is created or under the same instrument; provided, however, that the exercise of such authority:
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