Court Opinion

ID: 9816488
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-09-01 03:11:54.336172+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:04:56.062385
License: Public Domain

SANDSTROM, Justice,
concurring specially.
[¶ 28] Our statute, N.D.C.C. § 59-16-07(1), is part of North Dakota’s adoption of the Uniform Trust Act (§ 807):
A trustee may delegate duties and powers that a prudent trustee of comparable skills could properly delegate under the *208circumstances. The trustee shall exercise reasonable care, skill, and caution in selecting an agent; establishing the scope and terms of the delegation, consistent with the purposes and terms of the trust; and periodically reviewing the agent’s actions in order to monitor the agent’s performance and compliance with the terms of the delegation.
[¶ 29] By terms of the statutory provision, “[a] trustee may delegate duties and powers that a prudent trustee of comparable skills could properly delegate under the circumstances.” So, it must be a delegation that a prudent trustee could properly delegate. The official comment to § 807 of the uniform law says:
Whether a particular function is delega-ble is based on whether it is a function that a prudent trustee might delegate under similar circumstances. For example, delegating some administrative and reporting duties might be prudent for a family trustee but unnecessary for a corporate trustee.
This section applies only to delegation to agents, not to delegation to a cotrustee.
[¶ 30] Would a prudent trustee delegate to others the decision of whether to sue members of the protected person’s family? That seems doubtful to me.
[¶ 31] DALE V. SANDSTROM