Title 12 — Decedents’ Estates and Fiduciary Relations

§ 3301. Application of chapter; definitions [For application of this section, see 79 Del. Laws, c. 172, § 6]. (a) This chapter shall govern fiduciaries, as well as agents in certain instances, now or hereafter acting under governing instruments. Except as otherwise specified with…

§ 3302. Degree of care; authorized investments [For application of this section, see 79 Del. Laws, c. 172, § 6]. (a) When investing, reinvesting, purchasing, acquiring, exchanging, retaining, selling and managing property for the benefit of another, a fiduciary shall act with the…

§ 3303. Effect of provisions of instrument [For application of this section, see 79 Del. Laws, c. 172, § 6]. (a) Notwithstanding any other provision of this Code or other law, the terms of a governing instrument may expand, restrict, eliminate, or otherwise vary any laws of gener…

§ 3304. Retention by fiduciary of decedent’s or settlor’s investments. Unless expressly provided otherwise in any instrument specified in § 3303 of this title, any provisions in any such instrument prescribing, defining or limiting the kind of property in which the funds of the t…

§ 3305. Retention by bank or trust company acting as a fiduciary of its own stock. Unless expressly provided otherwise in any instrument specified in § 3303 of this title, a bank or trust company acting as a fiduciary and authorized so to act may retain in a trust estate shares o…

§ 3306. Deviation from terms of instrument. Subject to the provisions of § 3303 of this title, nothing contained in this chapter shall be construed as restricting the power of a court of proper jurisdiction to permit fiduciaries to deviate from the terms of any will, agreement or…

§ 3307. Common fund investments by bank or trust company; regulations. (a) A bank or trust company authorized to act in a fiduciary capacity or in the capacity of agent with investment discretion, and acting in such capacity, may invest funds held by it for investment in fraction…

§ 3308. Power of bank or trust company acting as a fiduciary to purchase property held by its commercial or banking department. (a) A bank or trust company shall not purchase, with funds held by it as a fiduciary, any property held by its commercial or banking department, but thi…

§ 3309. Identification of securities. (a) Except as otherwise provided by the terms of the governing instrument, all securities in a fiduciary estate, whether held by the fiduciary or an agent for the fiduciary, shall be held in such manner that the fiduciary’s name and the fiduc…

§ 3310. Storage of securities. (a) Except as otherwise provided by the terms of the governing instrument, all securities in a fiduciary estate, whether held by the fiduciary or an agent for the fiduciary, shall be stored separately from any other securities, except as provided he…

§ 3311. Deposit of securities in clearing corporation. (a) Except as otherwise provided by the terms of the governing instrument, a bank or trust company may deposit or arrange for the deposit of in a clearing corporation securities held by it as fiduciary or as agent for a fiduc…

§ 3312. Investments in affiliated investments; transactions with affiliates [For application of this section, see 80 Del. Laws, c. 153, § 5]. (a) As used in this section: (1) “Affiliate” means any corporation or other entity that directly or indirectly through 1 or more intermedi…

§ 3313. Advisers [For application of this section, see 80 Del. Laws, c. 153, § 5]. (a) Where 1 or more persons are given authority by the terms of a governing instrument to direct, consent to or disapprove a fiduciary’s actual or proposed investment decisions, distribution decisi…

§ 3313A. Excluded cotrustee. (a) If the terms of a governing instrument confer upon a cotrustee, to the exclusion of another cotrustee, the power to take certain actions with respect to the trust, including the power to direct or prevent certain actions of the trustees, the duty …

§ 3314. Limitation on certain fiduciary powers. (a) This section shall apply to: (1) Any trust created under a governing instrument that, but for this section, would permit any of the powers described in subsection (c) of this section to be exercised by the fiduciary unless the g…

§ 3315. Trustee’s exercise of discretion; review by court; discretionary interests. (a) Where discretion is conferred upon the fiduciary with respect to the exercise of a power, its exercise by the fiduciary shall be considered to be proper unless the court determines that the di…

§ 3316. Substituted property; equivalent value; fiduciary duty. Except as otherwise expressly provided by the terms of a governing instrument, if a trustor has a power to substitute property of equivalent value, the fiduciary responsible for investment decisions has a fiduciary d…

§ 3317. Cofiduciaries and co-nonfiduciaries; duty to keep informed. Except as otherwise provided in a governing instrument, each trust fiduciary (including trustees, advisers, protectors, and other fiduciaries), and each trust nonfiduciary, has a duty upon request to keep all of …

§§ 3318-3320. [Reserved.]

§ 3321. Applicability of chapter; definitions. Repealed 76 Del. Laws, c. 254, § 8.

§ 3322. Fiduciary agency contracts; delegation. (a) A fiduciary may appoint agents to assist in the performance of the fiduciary’s duties, pay such agents from the fiduciary fund and delegate investment, management, or other fiduciary duties to any such agent, including an agent …

§ 3323. Cofiduciaries and co-nonfiduciaries. (a) Unless provided otherwise by the governing instrument, any power vested in 3 or more fiduciaries or nonfiduciaries by the governing instrument or by law may be exercised by a majority of such fiduciaries or nonfiduciaries and a maj…

§ 3324. General powers of trustee. (a) A trustee, without authorization by the court, may exercise: (1) Powers conferred by the terms of the trust; and (2) Except as limited by the terms of the trust, any other powers conferred by this chapter. (b) Except as modified by the terms…

§ 3325. Specific powers of trustee [For application of this section, see 79 Del. Laws, c. 172, § 6; 80 Del. Laws, c. 153, § 5]. Without limiting the authority conferred by § 3324 of this title, a trustee may: (1) Collect trust property and accept or decline additions to the trust…

§ 3326. Resignation of an officeholder. (a) For purposes of this section and § 3327 of this title, the term “officeholder” includes a trustee, an “adviser” as defined in § 3313 of this title, a “designated representative” as defined in § 3339 of this title, and an enforcer under …

§ 3327. Removal of an officeholder. If a governing instrument expressly permits an officeholder (as defined in § 3326 of this title) to be removed, the officeholder may be removed in accordance with the terms of the governing instrument. In addition, the Court of Chancery may rem…

§ 3328. Limitation on personal liability of fiduciary. (a) Except as otherwise provided in the contract, a fiduciary is not personally liable on a contract properly entered into in a fiduciary capacity if the fiduciary in the contract discloses the fiduciary capacity. (b) The deb…

§ 3329. Effect of no-contest provision. (a) A provision of a will or trust that if given effect would reduce or eliminate the interest of any beneficiary of such will or trust who initiates or participates in an action to contest the validity of such will or trust or to set aside…

§ 3330. Construction or interpretation affecting validity under rule against perpetuities, applicability of later-enacted laws, and class determination; effect of survivorship requirement. (a) In the construction or interpretation of any governing instrument, the following rules …

§ 3331. Preference for early vesting [For application of the section, see 83 Del. Laws, c. 271, § 1]. In the construction or interpretation of any will or trust, or other governing instrument, if a determination is to be made whether the beneficiaries entitled to receive a distri…

§ 3332. Governing law; change of situs [For application of this section, see 80 Del. Laws, c. 153, § 5]. (a) The duration of a trust and time of vesting of interests in the trust property shall not change merely because the place of administration of the trust is changed from som…

§ 3333. Retention of counsel by fiduciary [For application of this section, see 79 Del. Laws, c. 172, § 6; 80 Del. Laws, c. 153, § 5]. (a) In the case of a fiduciary that retains counsel in connection with any matter whether or not related to any claim that has been or might be a…

§ 3334. Contributions to revocable trusts [For application of this section, see 79 Del. Laws, c. 172, § 6]. Where spouses make a contribution of property to 1 or more trusts, each of which is revocable by either or both of them, and, immediately before such contribution, such pro…

§ 3335. Effect of formula clauses in certain wills and trusts. (a) A governing instrument, such as a will or trust of a decedent, who dies after December 31, 2009, and before January 1, 2011, that contains a formula referring to the “unified credit,” “estate tax exemption,” “appl…

§ 3336. Appointment of successor trustee [For application of this section, see 79 Del. Laws, c. 172, § 6]. If a trust has no serving trustee for any reason, including the death, incapacity, removal or resignation of the last serving trustee of the trust, or due to the renunciatio…

§ 3337. Claims against revocable trusts [For application of this section, see 79 Del. Laws, c. 172, § 6]. Following the death of the trustor of a trust that was revocable immediately prior to the trustor’s death, all claims against the trust that, but for any applicable period of…

§ 3338. Nonjudicial settlement agreements [For application of this section, see 79 Del. Laws, c. 172, § 6; 80 Del. Laws, c. 153, § 5]. (a) For purposes of this section, “interested persons” means persons whose consent would be required in order to achieve a binding settlement wer…

§ 3339. Designated representatives of trusts. (a) For purposes of this title, the term “designated representative” means a person who has delivered to the trustee such person’s written acceptance of the office of designated representative or who has otherwise agreed, through serv…

§ 3340. Place of administration [For application of this section, see 80 Del. Laws, c. 153, § 5]. For purposes of this title, and without limiting other ways in which a trust may be considered to be administered in this State, a trust is administered in this State if: (1) The sol…

§ 3341. Consequences of trust merger and similar transactions [For application of this section, see 80 Del. Laws, c. 153, § 5]. Whenever any trust (a “transferor trust”) is merged with and into another trust (the “transferee trust”): (1) The separate existence of the transferor t…

§ 3342. Modification of trust by consent while trustor is living. (a) Unless the trust’s governing instrument expressly provides that the governing instrument may not be modified under this section, under a nonjudicial settlement agreement under § 3338 of this title or similar pr…

§ 3343. Authority to allocate trustee duties among multiple trustees. (a) The power to appoint a successor trustee under a governing instrument shall be deemed to include the power to appoint multiple successor trustees. A presently exercisable power to remove and replace a trust…

§ 3344. Income tax reimbursement or payment. (a) Unless the terms of the governing instrument expressly provide that a trustor may not be reimbursed by a trust for the trustor’s personal income tax liability, if the trustor of a trust is treated under 26 U.S.C. § 671 et seq. as t…

§ 3345. Beneficiary well-being trust. (a) This section applies to any trust the governing instrument of which makes express reference to this section and states that this section, or any part of this section, shall apply. A trust that makes such a reference to this section is kno…