§ 30-3811 — (UTC 111) Nonjudicial settlement agreements

Nebraska § 30-3811

• Jurisdiction: Nebraska
• Ch. 30: Decedents' Estates; Protection of Persons and Property

Text

(UTC 111) (a) For purposes of this section, "interested persons" means persons whose consent would be required in order to achieve a binding settlement were the settlement to be approved by the court.
(b) Except as otherwise provided in subsection (c) of this section, interested persons may enter into a binding nonjudicial settlement agreement with respect to any matter involving a trust.
(c) A nonjudicial settlement agreement is valid only to the extent it does not violate a material purpose of the trust and includes terms and conditions that could be properly approved by the court under the Nebraska Uniform Trust Code or other applicable law. A spendthrift provision in the terms of the trust is presumed to constitute a material purpose of the trust.
(d) Matters that may be resolved by a nonjudicial settlement agreement include:
(1) the interpretation or construction of the terms of the trust;
(2) the approval of a trustee's report or accounting;
(3) direction to a trustee to refrain from performing a particular act or the grant to a trustee of any necessary or desirable power;
(4) the resignation or appointment of a trustee and the determination of a trustee's compensation;
(5) transfer of a trust's principal place of administration; and
(6) liability of a trustee for an action relating to the trust.
(e) Any interested person may request the court to approve a nonjudicial settlement agreement, to determine whether the representation as provided in sections 30-3822 to 30-3826 was adequate, and to determine whether the agreement contains terms and conditions the court could have properly approved.

Legislative History

Source: Laws 2003, LB 130, § 11; Laws 2004, LB 999, § 24. Annotations: A nonjudicial settlement agreement is valid only to the extent it does not violate a material purpose of the trust. A spendthrift provision in the terms of the trust is presumed to constitute a material purpose of the trust. In re Trust Created by McGregor, 308 Neb. 405, 954 N.W.2d 612 (2021). Changes made to an irrevocable trust by a nonjudicial settlement agreement between the surviving spouse and her two children, which provided for distribution of the trust's assets upon the spouse's death free of trust, violated a "material purpose" of the trust established by its spendthrift provisions, and thus made the agreement invalid. In re Trust Created by McGregor, 308 Neb. 405, 954 N.W.2d 612 (2021). If the continuance of a trust is necessary to carry out a material purpose of the trust, the beneficiaries cannot compel its termination. In re Trust Created by McGregor, 308 Neb. 405, 954 N.W.2d 612 (2021). The material purposes of a trust are subject to the settlor's discretion, to the extent that its purposes are lawful, are not contrary to public policy, are possible to achieve, and are for the benefit of its beneficiaries. In re Trust Created by McGregor, 308 Neb. 405, 954 N.W.2d 612 (2021).