§ 18-4-2 - Powers of trustees. - Rhode Island Statutes

SECTION 18-4-2

   § 18-4-2  Powers of trustees. – (a) Every trust, inter vivos or testamentary, previously or subsequentlyeffective, in which no provision is made to the contrary, shall be deemed togive to the trustees or trustee under the trust for the time being, in additionto any other power they may lawfully have, full power in their, his, or herdiscretion, or if a corporation in the discretion of its duly authorizedofficer or committee:

   (1) To invest and reinvest the trust estate, or any part ofit, in real or personal property, foreign or domestic, including, withoutlimiting the generality of the preceding provisions, savings accounts of banksand trust companies and shares of stock or other securities of corporations,building and loan associations, investment trusts, and investment companies,and to vary from time to time the investments of the trust estate;

   (2) To exercise discretionary powers of sale, lease,partition by suit or deed, and exchange over the trust estate, or any part ofit, whether real or personal property; in case of any sale, to sell at publicor private sale, for cash or on credit and together or in parcels; in case ofany lease, to lease for a period that the trustees or trustee shall deemadvisable, whether terminating during the continuance of the trusts orthereafter; and in case of any partition or in case of any exchange, to give orreceive money for equality of partition or exchange;

   (3) To appoint a proxy or proxies, with or without power ofsubstitution, to vote shares of a corporation or association included in thetrust estate as directed or in a manner that the proxy or proxies shall deembest;

   (4) To participate in, assent to, or disapprove any plan forthe reorganization, recapitalization, consolidation, merger, winding up, orreadjustment of the indebtedness of any corporation or association, and to takeany and all action required by reason of participation in the plan; and

   (5) Upon the termination of any trust with respect to anyportion of the trust estate, to set aside the portion from the remainder of thetrust estate; upon the termination of any trust with respect to the entiretrust estate, or any part of it, to partition the trust estate into the shares,if any, in which it is distributable; and in connection with the setting asideof any portion or any partition to exercise the power of sale conferred by thissection upon the trustees or trustee, and to allocate to any share in or partof the trust estate specific investments at their fair value at the time ofallocation as determined by the trustees or trustee acting in good faith.

   (6) To donate a conservation easement on any real property inorder to obtain the benefit of the estate tax exclusion allowed under§§ 170 and 2031(c), respectively, of the United States InternalRevenue Code of 1986, as amended, if:

   (i) Each party who has an interest in the real property thatwould be affected by the conservation easement consents in writing to thedonation, or

   (ii) The trust instrument directs, requires or permits adonation of a conservation easement in gross, in which case no consent shall berequired.

   (b) The trustees or trustee may be authorized by the superiorcourt to execute any or all of the powers set forth in subdivisions (a)(1) to(a)(5) of this section, upon the terms and conditions that the court may deemproper, notwithstanding any provision of any trust instrument which is or maypossibly be deemed to be inconsistent with the exercise of any of these powers,if, in the opinion of the court, authority to exercise the power or powers isor may become necessary or desirable to enable the trustees or trustee toproperly perform the duties and accomplish the purposes of the trust, theauthorization to be granted only upon written application to a justice of thecourt and upon the notice, if any, that the justice may direct.