(a) Except as otherwise qualified or limited by the court in its order of appointment and endorsed on the letters, a conservator has all of the powers granted in this section and any additional powers granted by law to a trustee in this State.
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Terms Used In Hawaii Revised Statutes 560:5-425

  • Amortization: Paying off a loan by regular installments.
  • Assets: (1) The property comprising the estate of a deceased person, or (2) the property in a trust account.
  • Contract: A legal written agreement that becomes binding when signed.
  • Corporation: A legal entity owned by the holders of shares of stock that have been issued, and that can own, receive, and transfer property, and carry on business in its own name.
  • Dependent: A person dependent for support upon another.
  • Fiduciary: A trustee, executor, or administrator.
  • Guardian: A person legally empowered and charged with the duty of taking care of and managing the property of another person who because of age, intellect, or health, is incapable of managing his (her) own affairs.
  • 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.
  • Lease: A contract transferring the use of property or occupancy of land, space, structures, or equipment in consideration of a payment (e.g., rent). Source: OCC
  • Lien: A claim against real or personal property in satisfaction of a debt.
  • Prosecute: To charge someone with a crime. A prosecutor tries a criminal case on behalf of the government.
  • Real property: Land, and all immovable fixtures erected on, growing on, or affixed to the land.
  • Revocable trust: A trust agreement that can be canceled, rescinded, revoked, or repealed by the grantor (person who establishes the trust).
  • Trustee: A person or institution holding and administering property in trust.
(b) A conservator, acting reasonably and in an effort to accomplish the purpose of the appointment, and without further court authorization or confirmation, may:

(1) Collect, hold, and retain assets of the estate, including assets in which the conservator has a personal interest and real property in another state, until the conservator considers that disposition of an asset should be made;
(2) Receive additions to the estate;
(3) Continue or participate in the operation of any business or other enterprise;
(4) Acquire an undivided interest in an asset of the estate in which the conservator, in any fiduciary capacity, holds an undivided interest;
(5) Invest assets of the estate as though the conservator were a trustee;
(6) Deposit money of the estate in a financial institution, including one operated by the conservator;
(7) Acquire or dispose of an asset of the estate, including real property in another state, for cash or on credit, at public or private sale, and manage, develop, improve, exchange, partition, change the character of, or abandon an asset of the estate; provided that any sale of real property in the State shall be subject to confirmation pursuant to § 531-29;
(8) Make ordinary or extraordinary repairs or alterations in buildings or other structures, demolish any improvements, and raze existing or erect new party walls or buildings;
(9) Subdivide, develop, or dedicate land to public use, make or obtain the vacation of plats and adjust boundaries, adjust differences in valuation or exchange or partition by giving or receiving considerations, and dedicate easements to public use without consideration;
(10) Enter for any purpose into a lease as lessor or lessee, with or without option to purchase or renew, for a term within or extending beyond the term of the conservatorship;
(11) Enter into a lease or arrangement for exploration and removal of minerals or other natural resources or enter into a pooling or unitization agreement;
(12) Grant an option involving disposition of an asset of the estate and take an option for the acquisition of any asset;
(13) Vote a security, in person or by general or limited proxy;
(14) Pay calls, assessments, and any other sums chargeable or accruing against or on account of securities;
(15) Sell or exercise stock subscription or conversion rights;
(16) Consent, directly or through a committee or other agent, to the reorganization, consolidation, merger, dissolution, or liquidation of a corporation or other business enterprise;
(17) Hold a security in the name of a nominee or in other form without disclosure of the conservatorship so that title to the security may pass by delivery;
(18) Insure the assets of the estate against damage or loss and the conservator against liability with respect to a third person;
(19) Borrow money, with or without security, to be repaid from the estate or otherwise and advance money for the protection of the estate or the protected person and for all expenses, losses, and liability sustained in the administration of the estate or because of the holding or ownership of any assets, for which the conservator has a lien on the estate as against the protected person for advances so made;
(20) Pay or contest any claim, settle a claim by or against the estate or the protected person by compromise, arbitration, or otherwise, and release, in whole or in part, any claim belonging to the estate to the extent the claim is uncollectible;
(21) Pay taxes, assessments, compensation of the conservator and any guardian, and other expenses incurred in the collection, care, administration, and protection of the estate;
(22) Allocate items of income or expense to income or principal of the estate, as provided by other law, including creation of reserves out of income for depreciation, obsolescence, or amortization or for depletion of minerals or other natural resources;
(23) Pay any sum distributable to a protected person or individual who is in fact dependent on the protected person by paying the sum to the distributee or by paying the sum for the use of the distributee:

(A) To the guardian of the distributee;
(B) To a distributee’s custodian under chapter 553A or custodial trustee under chapter 554B; or
(C) If there is no guardian, custodian, or custodial trustee, to a relative or other person having physical custody of the distributee;
(24) Prosecute or defend actions, claims, or proceedings in any jurisdiction for the protection of assets of the estate and of the conservator in the performance of fiduciary duties; and
(25) Execute and deliver all instruments that will accomplish or facilitate the exercise of the powers vested in the conservator.
(c) In investing the estate, and in selecting assets of the estate for distribution under § 560:5-427, in utilizing powers of revocation or withdrawal available for the support of the protected person and exercisable by the conservator or the court, and in exercising any other power vested in them, the conservator and the court shall take into account any known estate plan of the protected person, including the protected person’s will, any revocable trust of which the protected person is settlor, and any contract, transfer, or joint ownership arrangement with provisions for payment or transfer of benefits or interests at the protected person’s death to another or others which the protected person may have originated. The conservator may examine the will of the protected person.

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