1. Know the Trust Document The first lesson is a classic: Know the terms of the governing trust document. In one unpublished case, the Nebraska Court of Appeals found that the corporate trustee acted properly when it refused to approve a certain proposed trust amendment. In re Hunt, Case No. A-22-499, 2023 WL 3185514 (May 2, 2023) (unpublished). The Nebraska Court of Appeals found that the corporate trustee acted properly by rejecting the proposed amendment. The corporate trustee rejected the amendment because it believed the amendment was the product of overreach protected by certain provisions of the Trust agreement itself. Specifically, those provisions provided (1) that co‑trustee consent was required for any amendment by the grantor and (2) that a primary purpose of the trust (and the corporate co-trustee) was to be sure that no family member would obtain assets from the surviving grantor without the consent and oversight of the co-trustee. In other words, the bank/corporate trustee understood that the grantors were concerned about requests for money by family members and did not want an easy amendment of the trust to allow for the taking of a surviving grantor’s assets. Lesson: Know the trust language, the purpose of the trust and the power you have (and should exercise) as a trustee. 13 NEBRASKA BANKER
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