Opinion ID: 2638560
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 7

Heading: Successor Trustee

Text: [¶ 17] Appellants briefly contend that genuine issues of material fact remain as to whether Dixie Anderson had failed to serve as trustee of the Trust, so that Ron Anderson had become successor trustee of the Trust and was acting in such official capacity at the time of the accident. Again, we find this argument unpersuasive. The only evidence before the district court established that, in 1997, the Trust was established by Dixie Anderson, and acreage with a house and approximately 300 acres of ranch land were deeded to the Trust. Dixie Anderson was then appointed as the trustee for the Trust. Dixie Anderson's five children, including Ron Anderson, were named beneficiaries of the Trust and were to share equally in the Trust property after Dixie Anderson's death. [¶ 18] At the time of the accident, Dixie Anderson was the appointed trustee of the Trust and in such capacity was the sole person responsible for any formal actions taken by the Trust. As trustee of the Trust, Dixie Anderson had the power to hold, manage, invest and reinvest the trust estate. She also had the express powers to retain, sell, transfer, exchange, convert or otherwise dispose of, invest and reinvest, insure or not insure, lease, possess, manage, develop, subdivide, control, partition, mortgage, or otherwise deal with any and all property held within the Trust. Indeed, the Trust gave Dixie Anderson, as trustee, the power to make repairs, replacements and improvements, structural or otherwise, or abandon the property of the Trust if deemed to be worthless or not of sufficient value to warrant keeping or protecting it. These powers further included the right to fail to pay taxes, water rents, assessments, repairs, maintenance and upkeep on the Trust property and to even convey the property for nominal consideration or without any consideration. Thus, Dixie Anderson, as the appointed trustee of the Trust, had broadly enumerated powers to administer the Trust within her discretion. Furthermore, the Trust iterated that in the event that Dixie Anderson, as the appointed trustee of the Trust, resigned or failed to serve for any reason, Ron Anderson would be appointed successor trustee of the Trust. For such purposes, failure to serve included, without limitation, death or incapacity. [¶ 19] Appellants failed to marshal any specific facts, as contrasted with general or conclusory allegations, to raise a genuine issue of material fact which established that Dixie Anderson, as trustee of the Trust, failed to serve in such capacity requiring Ron Anderson to be appointed a successor trustee at the time that the accident occurred. Appellants merely proffer accusations of Dixie Anderson's failure to properly act as trustee for the Trust with no basis in fact and then summarily conclude that Ron Anderson therefore must be assumed to have succeeded his mother as trustee of the Trust. Such allegations alone are insufficient to raise a material question of fact.