Montana Code 72-38-213. Petitioners — grounds for petition
72-38-213. Petitioners — grounds for petition. (1) Except as provided in 72-38-603, a trustee or beneficiary of a trust may petition the court under this chapter concerning the internal affairs of the trust or to determine the existence of the trust.
Terms Used In Montana Code 72-38-213
- Beneficiary: A person who is entitled to receive the benefits or proceeds of a will, trust, insurance policy, retirement plan, annuity, or other contract. Source: OCC
- Beneficiary: means a person who:
(a)has a present or future beneficial interest in a trust, vested or contingent; or
(b)in a capacity other than that of trustee, holds a power of appointment over trust property. See Montana Code 72-38-103
- Decedent: A deceased person.
- Jurisdiction: (1) The legal authority of a court to hear and decide a case. Concurrent jurisdiction exists when two courts have simultaneous responsibility for the same case. (2) The geographic area over which the court has authority to decide cases.
- Property: means anything that may be the subject of ownership, whether real or personal, legal or equitable, or any interest therein. See Montana Code 72-38-103
- Qualified beneficiary: means a beneficiary who on the date the beneficiary's qualification is determined:
(a)is a distributee or permissible distributee of trust income or principal;
(b)would be a distributee or permissible distributee of trust income or principal if the interests of the distributees described in subsection (16)(a) terminated on that date without causing the trust to terminate; or
(c)would be a distributee or permissible distributee of trust income or principal if the trust terminated on that date. See Montana Code 72-38-103
- Remainder: An interest in property that takes effect in the future at a specified time or after the occurrence of some event, such as the death of a life tenant.
- Trust instrument: means an instrument executed by the settlor that contains terms of the trust, including any amendments thereto. See Montana Code 72-38-103
- Trustee: A person or institution holding and administering property in trust.
- Trustee: includes an original, additional, and successor trustee and a cotrustee. See Montana Code 72-38-103
- United States: includes the District of Columbia and the territories. See Montana Code 1-1-201
(2)Proceedings concerning the internal affairs of a trust include but are not limited to proceedings for any of the following purposes:
(a)determining questions of construction of a trust instrument;
(b)determining the existence or nonexistence of any immunity, power, privilege, duty, or right;
(c)determining the validity of a trust provision;
(d)ascertaining beneficiaries and determining to whom property must pass or be delivered upon final or partial termination of the trust, to the extent the determination is not made by the trust instrument;
(e)settling the accounts and passing upon the acts of the trustee, including the exercise of discretionary powers;
(f)instructing the trustee;
(g)compelling the trustee to provide information about the trust or submit a report to a qualified beneficiary if:
(i)the trustee has failed to provide information or submit a requested report within 60 days after written request of the qualified beneficiary; and
(ii)in the case of a report, no report has been made within 6 months preceding the request;
(h)granting powers to the trustee;
(i)fixing or allowing payment of the trustee’s compensation;
(j)appointing or removing a trustee;
(k)accepting the resignation of a trustee;
(l)compelling redress of a breach of the trust by any available remedy;
(m)approving or directing the modification or termination of the trust;
(n)approving or directing the combination or division of trusts;
(o)amending or conforming the trust instrument in the manner required to qualify a decedent‘s estate for the charitable estate tax deduction under federal law, including the addition of mandatory governing instrument requirements for a charitable remainder trust as required by final regulations and rulings of the United States Internal Revenue Service, in any case in which all parties interested in the trust have submitted written agreement to the proposed changes or written disclaimer of interest;
(p)authorizing or directing transfer of a trust or trust property to or from another jurisdiction;
(q)directing transfer of a testamentary trust subject to continuing court jurisdiction from one county to another;
(r)approving removal of a testamentary trust from continuing court jurisdiction; or
(s)reforming or excusing compliance with the governing instrument of an organization pursuant to 72-38-825.