Title 13, Decedents' Estates, Guardianships, Transfers, Trusts, and Health Care Decisions

A trustee is under a continuing duty to administer the trust at a place appropriate to the purposes of the trust and to its sound, efficient management. If the principal place of administration becomes inappropriate for any reason, the court may enter any order furthering efficie…

(a) [Repealed, § 22 ch 105 SLA 1998.] (b) Subject to AS 13.36.105 — 13.36.220, a trustee is personally liable for obligations arising from ownership or control of property of the trust estate or for torts committed in the course of administration of the trust estate only if perso…

(a) Unless resolved or barred under (b) or (c) of this section, and notwithstanding the lack of adequate disclosure, all claims against a trustee who has issued a report received by the beneficiary and who has informed the beneficiary of the location and availability of records f…

Unless otherwise provided by the trust instrument, an amendment of the trust instrument, or a court order, the powers of a trustee are attached to the office and are not personal.

(a) Without authorization by a court, a trustee may exercise the powers conferred by the terms of the trust and, except as limited by the terms of the trust, the powers conferred by this chapter. (b) This chapter does not affect the power of a court to (1) relieve a trustee from …

Except as otherwise provided by this chapter, in addition to the powers conferred by the terms of the trust, a trustee may perform all actions necessary to accomplish the proper management, investment, and distribution of the trust property, including the power (1) to collect, ho…

A dissenting trustee who has joined another trustee in exercising a power is not liable to the beneficiaries or to others for the consequences of the exercise of the power if the dissenting trustee joins because of a requirement for unanimous trustee consent to the exercise of th…

A trustee of a trust owning corporate stock is liable for a loss resulting to the beneficiaries from a failure to use reasonable care in deciding how to vote the stock and in voting the stock only if personally at fault.

Whenever a bank account is, by entries made on the books of the depositor and the bank at the time of the deposit, created exclusively for the purpose of paying dividends, interest, interest coupons, salaries, wages, or pensions or other employee benefits, and the depositor at th…

If a beneficiary for whom a trust bank account is created under AS 13.36.125 does not present the beneficiary's claim to the bank for payment within one year after the claim is due, the depositor who created the trust may revoke the trust as to the beneficiary.

(a) A trustee of a trust owning stocks, bonds, notes, debentures, or other written obligations of a public or private corporation may hold the obligations in the name of a nominee, without mention of the trust in the records of the corporation or in the stock certificate or stock…

Except as provided in AS 13.36.145, a corporate trustee may not lend trust funds to itself or an affiliate, or to a director, an officer, or an employee of itself or an affiliate, and a noncorporate trustee may not lend trust funds to itself or to a relative, an employer, an empl…

(a) A corporate trustee that is subject to regulation and supervision by state or federal authorities may deposit with itself trust funds that are being held out of necessity pending investment, distribution, or payment of debts if the corporate trustee (1) pays into the trust fo…

A trustee, unless expressly authorized by the trust instrument, may not directly or indirectly lease, buy, or sell property for the trust from or to (1) itself or an affiliate; (2) a director, an officer, or an employee of the trustee or an affiliate; or (3) a relative, an employ…

(a) Notwithstanding AS 13.36.107, a trustee who is not an independent trustee may not exercise a power to make or cause to be made a discretionary distribution of either principal or income (1) to or for the direct or indirect benefit of the trustee individually or to any person …

If the transaction is fair to both trusts and if the transaction is not prohibited by the instruments creating the trustee relationship, a corporate trustee may sell to itself as trustee of a trust the following held by the corporate trustee as trustee for another trust: (1) stoc…

(a) An authorized trustee with unlimited discretion to invade trust principal may appoint part or all of that principal to a trustee of an appointed trust for, and only for the benefit of, one or more current beneficiaries of the invaded trust to the exclusion of other current be…

(a) An exercise of the power to invade trust principal under AS 13.36.157 is the exercise of a special power of appointment. (b) The appointed trust to which an authorized trustee appoints the assets of the invaded trust under AS 13.36.157 may have a duration that is longer than …

(a) Unless the authorized trustee provides otherwise, the appointment of (1) all of the assets making up the principal of the invaded trust to an appointed trust includes subsequently discovered assets of the invaded trust and undistributed principal of the invaded trust acquired…

A corporate trustee may not purchase for a trust shares of its own stock, or its bonds, or other securities, or the stock, bonds, or other securities of an affiliate.

If a person who is a trustee of two or more trusts mingles the funds of two or more trusts in the same aggregate of cash or in the same bank or brokerage account or other investment, and if a withdrawal is made from the cash aggregate, account, or investment by the trustee for th…

(a) Unless a governing instrument specifically refers to this section and provides otherwise, a trustee who makes an election under 26 U.S.C. 2056, 2056A, or 2523 (Internal Revenue Code), or who makes an allocation under 26 U.S.C. 2632 (Internal Revenue Code), may benefit persona…

(a) When an interest in real property is conveyed by deed to a person in a trust that is unenforceable under AS 09.25.010 — 09.25.020 and the intended trustee or the trustee's successor in interest holds title but refuses to carry out the trust because of AS 09.25.010 — 09.25.020…

(a) When a trustee makes a contract that is within the trustee's powers as trustee or when a predecessor trustee has made a contract within the predecessor trustee's powers as trustee and a cause of action arises on the contract, the party in whose favor the cause of action has a…

(a) A trustee who has incurred personal liability for a tort committed in the administration of the trust is entitled to exoneration for the liability from the trust property if the trustee has not discharged the claim, or to reimbursement for the liability out of trust funds if …

(a) If a trustee or a predecessor of the trustee incurs personal liability for a tort committed in the course of the trustee's administration, the trustee in the trustee's representative capacity may be sued and collection made from the trust property if the court determines in t…

A trustee may be held personally liable for a tort committed by the trustee, or by the trustee's agents or employees in the course of their agency or employment, subject to the rights of exoneration or reimbursement under AS 13.36.180.

(a) The settlor of a trust affected by AS 13.36.105 — 13.36.220 may, by provision in the instrument creating the trust if the trust is created by a writing, by oral statement to the trustee at the time of the creation of the trust if the trust is created orally, or by an amendmen…

A beneficiary of a trust affected by AS 13.36.105 — 13.36.220 may, if the beneficiary has full legal capacity and acts on full information, by written instrument delivered to the trustee, relieve the trustee, as regards the beneficiary, from any or all of the duties, restrictions…

A court of competent jurisdiction may, for cause shown and on notice to the beneficiaries, relieve a trustee from any or all of the duties and restrictions that would otherwise be placed on the trustee by AS 13.36.105 — 13.36.220 or wholly or partly excuse a trustee who has acted…

If a trustee violates a provision of AS 13.36.105 — 13.36.220, the trustee may be removed as trustee under AS 13.36.076 and denied compensation in whole or in part, and a beneficiary, co-trustee, or successor trustee may treat the violation as a breach of trust.

(a) In AS 13.36.105 — 13.36.220, unless the context or subject matter otherwise requires, (1) “affiliate” means a person directly or indirectly controlling or controlled by another person or a person under direct or indirect common control with another person, including a person …

AS 13.36.105 — 13.36.220 may be cited as the Alaska Trusts Act.

(a) Except as otherwise provided in (b) of this section and AS 13.36.273, a trustee who invests and manages trust assets owes a duty to the beneficiaries of the trust to comply with the prudent investor rule set out in AS 13.36.230 — 13.36.290. (b) The prudent investor rule, a de…

(a) A trustee shall invest and manage trust assets as a prudent investor would by considering the purposes, terms, distribution requirements, and other circumstances of the trust. In satisfying this standard, the trustee shall exercise reasonable care, skill, and caution. (b) A t…

A trustee shall diversify the investments of the trust unless the trustee reasonably determines that, because of special circumstances, the purposes of the trust are better served without diversifying.

Within a reasonable time after accepting a trusteeship or receiving trust assets, a trustee shall review the trust assets and make and implement decisions concerning the retention and disposition of assets in order to bring the trust portfolio into compliance with the purposes, t…

A trustee shall invest and manage the trust assets solely in the interest of the beneficiaries.

If a trust has two or more beneficiaries, the trustee shall act impartially in investing and managing the trust assets, taking into account any differing interests of the beneficiaries.

In investing and managing trust assets, a trustee may only incur costs that are appropriate and reasonable in relation to the assets, the purposes of the trust, and the skills of the trustee.

Compliance with the prudent investor rule is determined in light of the facts and circumstances existing at the time of a trustee's decision or action and not by hindsight.

(a) A trustee may delegate investment and management functions that a prudent trustee of comparable skills could properly delegate under the circumstances. The trustee shall exercise reasonable care, skill, and caution in (1) selecting an agent; (2) establishing the scope and ter…

(a) With respect to a contract for life insurance acquired or retained for a trust on the life of a qualified person, a trustee does not have a duty to determine whether the contract was procured or effected in accordance with AS 21.42.020 unless the trust instrument provides oth…

The following terms or comparable language in the provisions of a trust, unless otherwise limited or modified, authorizes an investment or strategy permitted under AS 13.36.225 — 13.36.290: “investments permissible by law for investment of trust funds,” “legal investments,” “auth…

(a) AS 13.36.225 — 13.36.290 apply to trusts existing on and created after May 23, 1998. As applied to trusts existing on May 23, 1998, AS 13.36.225 — 13.36.290 govern only decisions or actions occurring after May 23, 1998. (b) AS 13.36.225 — 13.36.290 govern only decisions or ac…

AS 13.36.225 — 13.36.290 shall be applied and construed to carry out their general purpose to make uniform the law with respect to the subject of those sections among the states that enact them.