§ 564-B:1-111A — Nonjudicial Dispute Resolution

(a) If the terms of the trust require the interested persons to resolve a trust dispute exclusively by reasonable nonjudicial procedures, then those interested persons shall resolve that trust dispute in accordance with the terms of the trust.
(b) An interested person may commence a judicial proceeding to determine whether the nonjudicial procedures are reasonable. To the extent that the terms of the trust purport to prohibit an interested person from commencing a judicial proceeding under this subsection or penalize an interested person for commencing a judicial proceeding under this subsection, those terms of the trust are void.
(c) For purposes of this section, "interested person" means any person who would be an interested person in a judicial proceeding to resolve the trust dispute.
(d) For purposes of this section, "trust dispute" means any matter in which a court has subject-matter jurisdiction under RSA 564-B:2-203, excluding (1) a determination of the validity of the trust or (2) a determination of any material purpose of the trust, including a determination of whether any modification, termination, or other action is consistent with a material purpose of the trust.
(e) Unless the director of charitable trusts expressly consents to the nonjudicial procedures, those procedures shall not apply to any matter involving a charitable trust. Unless the department of health and human services expressly consents to the nonjudicial procedures, those procedures shall not apply to any matter in which that department would be an interested person.
(f)(1) The nonjudicial dispute resolution procedures may include a reasonable procedure by which a person is appointed to represent and bind any one or more of the following persons:
(A) any unborn person;
(B) any minor or other incapacitated person; or
(C) any person whose identity or location is unknown and is not reasonably ascertainable.
(2) The procedure for the appointment of a representative is not reasonable if:
(A) There is a conflict of interest between the person appointing the representative and any interested person;
(B) There is a conflict of interest between the representative and any represented person; or
(C) With respect to any matter that is the subject of the trust dispute, there is a conflict of interest among the persons whom the representative is appointed to represent.
(3) To the extent that the trust dispute involves a trust's modification or termination, a settlor of the trust shall not represent any of the trust's beneficiaries.

Legislative History

2014, 195:11, eff. July 1, 2014. 2017, 257:5, eff. July 18, 2017; 257:6, eff. Sept. 16, 2017.