{"data":{"id":"us-ky/krs-386b.8-160","jurisdiction":"us-ky","citation":"KRS 386B.8-160","heading":"Specific powers of trustee.","body":"Without limiting the authority conferred by KRS 386B.8-150, a trustee may:\n(1) Collect trust property and accept or reject additions to the trust property from a\nsettlor or any other person;\n(2) Acquire or sell property, for cash or on credit, at public or private sale;\n(3) Exchange, partition, or otherwise change the character of trust property, including\nacquiring an undivided interest;\n(4) Deposit trust money in an account in a regulated financial institution;\n(5) Borrow money, with or without security, and mortgage or pledge trust property for a\nperiod within or extending beyond the duration of the trust, advance money for the\nprotection of the trust, and for all expenses, losses, and liability sustained in the\nadministration of the trust or because of t he holding or ownership of any trust\nassets, for which advances with any interest the trustee has a lien on the trust assets\nas against the beneficiary;\n(6) With respect to an interest in a proprietorship, partnership, limited liability\ncompany, business t rust, corporation, or other form of business or enterprise,\ncontinue the business or other enterprise and take any action that may be taken by\nshareholders, members, or property owners, including merging, dissolving, or\notherwise changing the form of busin ess organization or contributing additional\ncapital;\n(7) With respect to stocks or other securities, exercise the rights of an absolute owner,\nincluding the right to:\n(a) Vote, or give proxies to vote, with or without power of substitution, or enter\ninto or continue a voting trust agreement;\n(b) Hold a security in the name of a nominee or in other form without disclosure\nof the trust so that title may pass by delivery;\n(c) Pay calls, assessments, and other sums chargeable or accruing against the\nsecurities, and sell or exercise stock subscription or conversion rights;\n(d) Deposit the securities with a depositary or other regulated financial institution;\n(e) Sell or exchange stock subscription or conversion rights; and\n(f) Consent directly or through a committee or other agent, to the reorganization,\nconsolidation, merger, dissolution, or liquidation of a corporation or other\nbusiness enterprise;\n(8) With respect to an interest in real property, construct or make ordinary or\nextraordinary repairs to, alterations to, or improvements in, buildings or other\nstructures, demolish improvements, raze existing or erect new party walls or\nbuildings, subdivide or develop land, dedicate land to public use or grant public or\nprivate easements, and make or vacate plats and adjust boundaries;\n(9) Enter into a lease for any purpose as lessor or lessee, including a lease or other\narrangement for exploration and removal of natural resources, with or without the\noption to purchase or renew, for a period within or extending beyond the duration of\nthe trust;\n(10) Grant an option involving a sale, lease, or other disposition of trust property or\nacquire an option for the acquisition of property, including an option exercisable\nbeyond the duration of the trust, and exercise an option so acquired;\n(11) Insure the property of the trust against damage or loss and insure the trustee, the\ntrustee's agents, and beneficiaries against liability arising from the administration of\nthe trust;\n(12) Abandon or de cline to administer property of no value or of insufficient value to\njustify its collection or continued administration;\n(13) With respect to possible liability for violation of environmental law:\n(a) Inspect or investigate property the trustee holds or ha s been asked to hold, or\nproperty owned or operated by an organization in which the trustee holds or\nhas been asked to hold an interest, for the purpose of determining the\napplication of environmental law with respect to the property;\n(b) Take action to pr event, abate, or otherwise remedy any actual or potential\nviolation of any environmental law affecting property held directly or\nindirectly by the trustee, whether taken before or after the assertion of a claim\nor the initiation of governmental enforcement;\n(c) Decline to accept property into trust or disclaim any power with respect to\nproperty that is or may be burdened with liability for violation of\nenvironmental law;\n(d) Compromise claims against the trust which may be asserted for an alleged\nviolation of environmental law; and\n(e) Pay the expense of any inspection, review, abatement, or remedial action to\ncomply with environmental law;\n(14) Pay or contest any claim, settle a claim by or against the trust, and release, in whole\nor in part, a claim belonging to the trust;\n(15) Pay taxes, assessments, compensation of the trustee and of employees and agents of\nthe trust, and other expenses incurred in the administration of the trust;\n(16) Exercise elections with respect to federal, state, and local taxes;\n(17) Select a mode of payment under any employee benefit or retirement plan, annuity,\nor life insurance payable to the trustee, exercise rights thereunder, including\nexercise of the right to indemnification for expenses and against liabilities, and take\nappropriate action to collect the proceeds;\n(18) Make loans out of trust property, including loans to a beneficiary on terms and\nconditions the trustee considers to be fair and reasonable under the circumstances,\nand the trustee has a lien on future distributions for repayment of those loans;\n(19) Pledge trust property to guarantee loans made by others to the beneficiary;\n(20) Appoint a trustee to act in another jurisdiction with respect to trust property located\nin the other jurisdiction, confer upon the appoi nted trustee all of the powers and\nduties of the appointing trustee, require that the appointed trustee furnish security,\nand remove any trustee so appointed;\n(21) Pay an amount distributable to a beneficiary who is under a legal disability or who\nthe trus tee reasonably believes is incapacitated, by paying it directly to the\nbeneficiary or applying it for the beneficiary's benefit, or by:\n(a) Paying it to the beneficiary's conservator or, if the beneficiary does not have a\nconservator, the beneficiary's guardian;\n(b) Paying it to the beneficiary's custodian under KRS 385.022 to 385.242, the\nKentucky Uniform Transfers to Minors Act or custodial trustee under the\nUniform Custodial Trust Act, if that Act is subsequently adopted by the\nCommonwealth, and, for tha t purpose, creating a custodianship or custodial\ntrust;\n(c) If the trustee does not know of a conservator, guardian, custodian, or custodial\ntrustee, paying it to an adult relative or other person having legal or physical\ncare or custody of the beneficiary , to be expended on the beneficiary's behalf;\nor\n(d) Managing it as a separate fund on the beneficiary's behalf, subject to the\nbeneficiary's continuing right to withdraw the distribution;\n(22) On distribution of trust property or the division or terminati on of a trust, make\ndistributions in divided or undivided interests, allocate particular assets in\nproportionate or disproportionate shares, value the trust property for those purposes,\nand adjust for resulting differences in valuation;\n(23) Resolve a disp ute concerning the interpretation of the trust or its administration by\nmediation, arbitration, or other procedure for alternative dispute resolution;\n(24) Prosecute or defend an action, claim, or judicial proceeding in any jurisdiction to\nprotect trust property and the trustee in the performance of the trustee's duties;\n(25) Sign and deliver contracts and other instruments that are useful to achieve or\nfacilitate the exercise of the trustee's powers;\n(26) Take such actions as are necessary to cause gains from the sale or exchange of trust\nassets, as determined for federal income tax purposes, to be taxed for federal\nincome tax purposes as a part of a distribution of income, including the power to:\n(a) Allocate such gains to income for the purpose of making discretionary\ndistributions; and\n(b) Allocate such gains to income that has been increased by an adjustment from\nprincipal to income pursuant to KRS 386.454, to a unitrust distribution, or to a\ndistribution of principal to a beneficiary;\n(27) Invest and reinvest trust assets in accordance with the provisions of the trust or as\nprovided by law;\n(28) Allocate items of income or expense to either trust income or principal, as provided\nby law;\n(29) In addition to the power to delegate under KRS 386B.8 -070, employ persons,\nincluding attorneys, auditors, investment advisors, or agents, to:\n(a) Advise or assist the trustee in the performance of his administrative duties;\n(b) Act without independent investigation upon their recommendations; and\n(c) Instead of acting personally, to employ one (1) or more agents to perform any\nact of administration, whether or not discretionary; and\n(30) On termination of the trust, exercise the powers appropriate to wind up the\nadministration of the trust and distribute the trust property to the persons entitled to\nit within a reasonable amount of time.","path":[],"source_url":"https://apps.legislature.ky.gov/law/statutes/statute.aspx?id=43138","current_through":"Includes enactments through the 2026 Regular Session","vintage":"09/05/2026","retrieved_at":"2026-09-05T20:59:19Z","sha256":"711b451654bcedb6e01ea21f642904e4d8c45e4d4e25c40a7039c76fd958b045","source_id":"us-ky","stale":false,"prev":"us-ky/krs-386b.8-150","next":"us-ky/krs-386b.8-170"},"notice":"GroundRules: Original legal text. Not legal advice."}