701.05 Title of trustee; interest of beneficiaries. - Wisconsin Statutes

701.05

701.05 Title of trustee; interest of beneficiaries.

701.05(1)

(1) Unless the creating instrument expressly limits the trustee to a lesser title or to a power, the trustee takes all title of the settlor or other transferor and holds such title subject to the trustee's fiduciary duties as trustee.

701.05(2)

(2) If a trustee of a private trust has title to the trust property, a beneficiary has both a right to have the trustee perform the trustee's fiduciary duties and an equitable interest, present or future, in the trust property. If a trustee of a private trust holds only a power over property, a beneficiary has a right to have such trustee perform the trustee's fiduciary duties.

701.05(3)

(3) In a private or charitable trust where the trustee takes all title of the settlor or other transferor and holds such title subject to the trustee's fiduciary duties as trustee, any interest expressly retained by the settlor or not effectively disposed of to others remains in the settlor, or the settlor's successors in interest, as an equitable reversionary interest and to this extent the settlor, or the settlor's successors, are beneficiaries of the trust. In a private trust where the trustee takes all title of the settlor or other transferor and holds such title subject to the trustee's fiduciary duties as trustee, any interest, present or future, created by the settlor in any other person is an equitable interest and such person is a beneficiary of the trust.

701.05 - ANNOT.

History: 1971 c. 66; 1991 a. 316.