Minnesota Session Laws - 1984, Regular Session

  

                         Laws of Minnesota 1984 

                        CHAPTER 506-H.F.No. 1352
           An act relating to financial institutions; allowing 
          banks and trust companies to establish trust service 
          offices at the location of other banks; proposing new 
          law coded in Minnesota Statutes, chapter 48.  
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MINNESOTA: 
    Section 1.  [48.475] [TRUST SERVICE OFFICES.] 
    Subdivision 1.  [AUTHORIZATION.] Any trust company 
organized under the laws of this state and any state bank which 
is permitted to exercise trust powers under the provisions of 
Minnesota Statutes, sections 48.37 to 48.47 may, after 
completing the notification procedure required by this 
subdivision, establish and maintain a trust service office at 
any office in this state of any other state or national bank. 
Any state bank may, after completing the notification procedure 
required by this subdivision, permit any trust company organized 
under the laws of this state or any state bank which is 
permitted to exercise trust powers under the provisions of 
sections 48.37 to 48.47 or any national bank in this state which 
is authorized to exercise trust powers to establish and maintain 
a trust service office at any of its banking offices.  
    Any trust company or state bank permitted to exercise trust 
powers and a state bank at which a trust service office is to be 
established pursuant to this act shall jointly file, on forms 
provided by the commissioner, a notification of intent to 
establish a trust service office.  The notification shall be 
accompanied by a filing fee of $100 payable to the commissioner, 
to be deposited in the general fund of the state.  No trust 
service office shall be established pursuant to this act if 
disallowed by order of the commissioner within 45 days of the 
filing of a complete and acceptable notification of intent to 
establish a trust service office.  Any proceedings for judicial 
review of an order of the commissioner to disallow the 
establishment of a trust service office under this act shall be 
conducted pursuant to the provisions of the Administrative 
Procedure Act relating to judicial review of agency decisions, 
sections 14.63 to 14.69, and the scope of judicial review in 
such proceedings shall be as provided therein.  
    Subd. 2.  [SERVICES PERMITTED.] Any trust company or bank 
which establishes a trust service office under subdivision 1 may 
conduct at the office any trust business and business incidental 
thereto which it is permitted to conduct at its principal 
office, but it may not accept deposits except as incidental to 
trust business.  
    Subd. 3.  [GENERAL REQUIREMENTS.] If the bank at which a 
trust service office is to be established has exercised trust 
powers, then the trust company or bank which is establishing the 
trust service office shall enter into an agreement respecting 
those fiduciary powers to which the trust company or bank shall 
succeed and shall file the agreement with the commissioner.  The 
trust company or bank which is establishing a trust service 
office under subdivision 1 shall publish a notice of the filing 
in the form prescribed by the commissioner in a newspaper 
published in the municipality in which the trust service office 
is to be located, and if there is no such newspaper, then at the 
county seat of the county in which the trust service office is 
to be located.  The notice shall be published once and proof of 
publication shall be filed with the commissioner immediately 
after publication of the notice of filing.  After filing and 
publication, the trust company or bank establishing the trust 
service office shall, as of the date the office first opens for 
business, and without further authorization of any kind, succeed 
to and be substituted for the bank at which the trust service 
office is located as to all fiduciary powers, rights, duties, 
privileges, and liabilities of the bank in its capacity as 
fiduciary for all estates, trusts, conservatorships, 
guardianships, and other fiduciary relationships of which the 
bank is then serving as fiduciary, except as may be otherwise 
specified in the agreement between the bank and the trust 
company or bank which has established the trust service office. 
The trust company or bank which has established the trust 
service office shall also be deemed named as fiduciary in all 
writings, including, but not limited to, wills, trusts, court 
orders, and similar documents and instruments, naming the bank 
at which the trust service office is located signed before the 
date the trust service office first opens for business, unless 
expressly negated by the writing or otherwise specified in the 
agreement between the trust company or bank and the bank at 
which the trust service office is located.  On the effective 
date of the substitution, the bank at which the trust service 
office has been established shall be released and absolved from 
all fiduciary duties and obligations under the writings and 
shall discontinue its exercise of trust powers on all matters 
not specifically retained by the agreement.  This subdivision 
does not absolve the bank from liabilities arising out of any 
breach of fiduciary duty or obligation occurring prior to the 
date the trust service office first opens for business.  This 
subdivision does not affect the authority, duties, or 
obligations of a bank with respect to relationships which may be 
established without trust powers, whether the relationships 
arise before or after the establishment of the trust service 
office.  
    Subd. 4.  [SUPERVISION.] Every trust company or state bank 
permitted to exercise trust powers establishing and operating 
one or more trust service offices pursuant to this act shall at 
all times maintain records acceptable to the commissioner 
regarding transactions originating at such trust service offices 
and available at its principal office for examination pursuant 
to sections 46.04 and 46.05.  
    Subd. 5.  [NATIONAL BANKS; REQUIREMENTS.] If a trust 
service office is established by a national bank at the banking 
office of another national bank, then the agreement respecting 
fiduciary powers required by subdivision 3 shall be filed with 
the comptroller of the currency of the United States and the 
notice required by subdivision 3 shall be in the form prescribed 
by the comptroller of the currency.  
    Subd. 6.  [NOTICE OF SUBSTITUTIONS; DENIAL OF 
SUBSTITUTION.] Not less than 60 days prior to the effective date 
of the proposed substitution under subdivision 3 or 5, the 
parties to the substitution shall send written notice of the 
proposed substitution to each co-fiduciary, each surviving 
settlor of a trust, each conservatee or ward under a 
conservatorship or guardianship, each person who alone or in 
conjunction with others has the power to remove the fiduciary 
being substituted, and each adult beneficiary currently 
receiving or entitled to receive a distribution of principal or 
income from a trust or estate with respect to which the 
substitution is to be effected.  Intentional failure to send the 
notice to any party at the party's current address as shown on 
the fiduciary's records shall render ineffective the 
substitution of fiduciaries with respect to the fiduciary 
relationship, but an unintentional failure to give notice shall 
not impair the validity or effect of any substitution of 
fiduciaries under subdivision 3 or 5.  A trust company or bank 
which is substituted or about to be substituted as fiduciary 
with respect to a trust, estate, conservatorship, or 
guardianship under subdivision 3 or 5 may be removed as 
fiduciary, or the substitution may be denied, upon petition by a 
co-fiduciary, by a beneficiary of a trust or estate, by the 
settlor of a trust or on behalf of a conservatee or ward under a 
conservatorship or guardianship if the trust company or bank 
files a written consent to its removal or a written declination 
to act, or if the court having jurisdiction over the fiduciary 
relationship, upon notice and hearing, approves the petition as 
in the best interests of the petitioner and all other parties 
interested in the trust, estate, conservatorship, or 
guardianship.  This subdivision applies in addition to any 
applicable provision for removal of a fiduciary or appointment 
of a successor fiduciary in any other statute or in the 
instrument creating the fiduciary relationship. 
    Approved April 25, 1984