New Jersey Statutes 3B:31-55. Duty of loyalty
Terms Used In New Jersey Statutes 3B:31-55
- 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
- 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.
- Decedent: A deceased person.
- Estate: means all of the property of a decedent, minor or incapacitated individual, trust or other person whose affairs are subject to this title as the property is originally constituted and as it exists from time to time during administration. See New Jersey Statutes 3B:1-1
- Fiduciary: A trustee, executor, or administrator.
- Fiduciary: includes executors, general administrators of an intestate estate, administrators with the will annexed, substituted administrators, substituted administrators with the will annexed, guardians, substituted guardians, trustees, substituted trustees and, unless restricted by the subject or context, temporary administrators, administrators pendente lite, administrators ad prosequendum, administrators ad litem and other limited fiduciaries. See New Jersey Statutes 3B:1-1
- person: includes corporations, companies, associations, societies, firms, partnerships and joint stock companies as well as individuals, unless restricted by the context to an individual as distinguished from a corporate entity or specifically restricted to one or some of the above enumerated synonyms and, when used to designate the owner of property which may be the subject of an offense, includes this State, the United States, any other State of the United States as defined infra and any foreign country or government lawfully owning or possessing property within this State. See New Jersey Statutes 1:1-2
- Trustee: A person or institution holding and administering property in trust.
a. A trustee shall administer the trust with undivided loyalty to and solely in the best interests of the beneficiaries.
b. Subject to the rights of persons dealing with or assisting the trustee as provided in N.J.S.3B:14-37, a sale, encumbrance, or other transaction involving the investment or management of trust property entered into by the trustee for the trustee’s own personal account or which is otherwise affected by a conflict between the trustee’s fiduciary and personal interests is voidable by a beneficiary affected by the transaction unless:
(1) the transaction was authorized by the terms of the trust;
(2) the transaction was approved by the court;
(3) the beneficiary did not commence a judicial proceeding within the time allowed by N.J.S.3B:31-74;
(4) the beneficiary consented to the trustee’s conduct, ratified the transaction, or released the trustee in compliance with N.J.S.3B:31-78; or
(5) the transaction involves a contract entered into or a claim acquired by the trustee before the person became a trustee.
c. A sale, encumbrance, or other transaction involving the investment or management of trust property is presumed to be affected by a conflict between personal and fiduciary interests if it is entered into by the trustee with:
(1) the trustee’s spouse or partner in a civil union;
(2) the trustee’s parents, parents’ descendants, or the spouse or partner in a civil union of any of the foregoing;
(3) an agent, accountant, or attorney of the trustee; or
(4) a corporation or other person or enterprise in which the trustee, or a person that owns a significant interest in the trustee, has an interest that might affect the trustee’s judgment.
d. A transaction between a trustee and a beneficiary that does not concern trust property but that occurs during the existence of the trust or while the trustee retains significant influence over the beneficiary and from which the trustee obtains an advantage attributable to the existence of the trust is voidable by the beneficiary if the beneficiary establishes that the transaction was unfair to the beneficiary.
e. A transaction not concerning trust property in which the trustee engages in the trustee’s individual capacity involves a conflict between personal and fiduciary interests if the transaction concerns an opportunity properly belonging to the trust.
f. In voting shares of stock of a corporation or in exercising powers of control over similar interests in other forms of enterprise, the trustee shall act in the best interests of the beneficiaries and shall vote to elect or appoint directors or other managers who will manage the corporation or enterprise in the best interests of the beneficiaries.
g. This section does not preclude the following transactions, if fair to the beneficiaries:
(1) an agreement between a trustee and a beneficiary relating to the appointment or compensation of the trustee;
(2) payment of reasonable compensation to the trustee;
(3) a transaction between the trust and another trust, decedent‘s estate, guardianship, conservatorship, or other fiduciary relationship of which the trustee is a fiduciary or in which a beneficiary has an interest;
(4) a deposit of trust money in a regulated financial-service institution operated by or affiliated with the trustee; or
(5) an advance by the trustee of money for the protection of the trust.
h. The court may appoint a special fiduciary to make decisions with respect to any proposed transaction that might violate this section if entered into by the trustee.
L.2015, c.276, s.1.