Pennsylvania § 7780.17 - Trust protector.

§ 7780.17. Trust protector.

(a) General rule.--The terms of a trust may expressly grant to a trust director powers, alone or together with powers to direct a trustee's actions, to modify the terms of a trust. In that event, the trust director is a trust protector.

(b) Illustrative powers.--Among the powers the terms of a trust may grant explicitly to a trust protector are the following:

(1) To increase, decrease or otherwise modify what is distributable to one or more beneficiaries of the trust.

(2) To terminate the trust and direct how the trustee shall distribute the trust property to or in further trust for any one or more of the beneficiaries.

(3) To expand, modify, limit or terminate a power of appointment, and to grant a power of appointment to a beneficiary of the trust on terms as the trust protector specifies.

(4) The powers described in section 8104 (relating to trustee's power to adjust) to adjust between income and principal and to convert the trust to a unitrust in accordance with section 8105 (relating to power to convert to unitrust).

(5) To convert a trust in whole or in part to a special needs trust, or provide that a special needs trust shall arise or be established at a specific time or upon the occurrence of an event with respect to some or all of the trust's assets.

(6) To appoint or remove trustees, investment advisors and investment managers, and prescribe a plan of succession for future holders of any of these offices.

(7) To appoint or remove trust directors, specify their powers and modify the powers of a trust director.

(8) To appoint one or more successor trust protectors, and prescribe a plan of succession for future holders of that office.

(9) To renounce, release, limit or modify any power given to a trustee by the terms of the trust or by law.

(10) To resolve disagreements among trustees.

(11) To change the trust's situs or governing law, or both.

(12) To apply to a court of competent jurisdiction to interpret any terms of the trust or pass upon an action that the trust protector, another trust director or a trustee proposes to take or not take.

(13) Any other or different power that the settlor expressly grants to the trust protector.

(c) Limitation.--Unless the terms of the trust expressly provide otherwise, no trust protector may exercise a power in a manner that would benefit the trust protector personally or vest in the trust protector a taxable power of appointment described in 26 U.S.C. § 2041 (relating to powers of appointment) or 2514 (relating to powers of appointment), as amended, or the corresponding provision of any later Federal tax statute.

(d) Notice to qualified beneficiaries.--A trust protector shall notify the trustees and the qualified beneficiaries of the trust in writing of the trust protector's exercise of a power with respect to the trust unless the terms of the trust explicitly direct that no such notice be given.

(e) Conflicts.--If the terms of a trust grant the same power to both a trust protector and a trust director that is not a trust protector and do not provide a different rule, the trust protector shall control the exercise of the power.