(UTC 201) (a) The court may intervene in the administration of a trust to the extent its jurisdiction is invoked by an interested person or as provided by law.

(b) A trust is not subject to continuing judicial supervision unless ordered by the court.

(c) A judicial proceeding involving a trust may relate to any matter involving the trust's administration, including a request for instructions and an action to declare rights.

Annotations

A beneficiary of property left to a trust has standing to raise the trustee's self-dealing and to seek damages, an accounting, and a constructive trust. In re Estate of Hedke, 278 Neb. 727, 775 N.W.2d 13 (2009).
A trust beneficiary's estate can seek to enforce the beneficiary's interests in the trust to the same extent that the beneficiary could have enforced his or her interests immediately before death, consistent with the standard provided in the Restatement (Third) of Trusts section 50, comment d(5). (2003). In re Trust Created by Hansen, 274 Neb. 199, 739 N.W.2d 170 (2007).
The remainder beneficiaries' motion for a declaration of rights was construed as a request for the court to instruct the trustee on its duties and powers when they asked the county court to decide whether the trustee could pay the billings for the beneficiary's last-illness expenses and, if so, what standards should be applied. In re Trust Created by Hansen, 274 Neb. 199, 739 N.W.2d 170 (2007).
This section does not limit to trustees the right to seek instructions from the court. In re Trust Created by Hansen, 274 Neb. 199, 739 N.W.2d 170 (2007).

(UTC 202) (a) By accepting the trusteeship of a trust having its principal place of administration in this state or by moving the principal place of administration to this state, the trustee submits personally to the jurisdiction of the courts of this state regarding any matter involving the trust.

(b) With respect to their interests in the trust, the beneficiaries of a trust having its principal place of administration in this state are subject to the jurisdiction of the courts of this state regarding any matter involving the trust. By accepting a distribution from such a trust, the recipient submits personally to the jurisdiction of the courts of this state regarding any matter involving the trust.

(c) This section does not preclude other methods of obtaining jurisdiction over a trustee, beneficiary, or other person receiving property from the trust.

(a) To the full extent permitted by the Constitution of Nebraska, the county court has jurisdiction over all subject matter relating to trusts.

(b) The county court has full power to make orders, judgments, and decrees and take all other action necessary and proper to administer justice in the matters which come before it.

(d) Petitions for formal orders of the court may combine various requests for relief in a single proceeding if the orders sought may be finally granted without delay. Except as required for proceedings which are particularly described by other sections of the Nebraska Uniform Trust Code, no petition is defective because it fails to embrace all matters which might then be the subject of a final order.

(e) A proceeding for appointment of a trustee is concluded by an order making or declining the appointment.

(f) For purposes of this section, "proceeding" includes action at law and suit in equity.

Annotations

A proceeding initiated under this section and section 30-3862 to remove a trustee is a special proceeding within the meaning of section 25-1902. In re Trust of Rosenberg, 269 Neb. 310, 693 N.W.2d 500 (2005).

(UTC 204) (a) Except as otherwise provided in subsections (b) and (c) of this section, venue for a judicial proceeding involving a trust is in the county of this state in which the trust's principal place of administration is or will be located and, if the trust is created by will and the estate is not yet closed, in the county in which the decedent's estate is being administered.

(b) Except as provided in subsection (c) of this section, if a trust has no trustee, venue for a judicial proceeding for the appointment of a trustee is in a county of this state in which a beneficiary resides, in a county in which any trust property is located, in a county in which the trust's principal place of administration was located before a vacancy in the office of trustee occurred, and if the trust is created by will, in the county in which the decedent's estate was or is being administered.

(c) If a trust is registered in Nebraska, unless the registration has been released, the venue is in the court in which the trust is registered, even if there is no trustee.

(d)(i) Where a proceeding under the Nebraska Uniform Trust Code could be maintained in more than one place in this state, the court in which the proceeding is first commenced has the exclusive right to proceed.

(ii) If proceedings concerning the same trust are commenced in more than one court of this state, the court in which the proceeding was first commenced shall continue to hear the matter, and the other courts shall hold the matter in abeyance until the question of venue is decided, and if the ruling court determines that venue is properly in another court, it shall transfer the proceeding to the other court.

(iii) If a court finds that in the interest of justice a proceeding or a file should be located in another court of this state, the court making the finding may transfer the proceeding or file to the other court.

Annotations

In a declaratory judgment action concerning the inheritance tax consequences of a girlfriend's rights to the settlor's house that he devised to her, the trial court did not abuse its discretion in transferring venue from the county where the house was located to the county where the trust was registered. In re Hessler Living Trust, 316 Neb. 600, 5 N.W.3d 723 (2024).

(1) The trustee of a trust having its principal place of administration in this state may register the trust in the county court of this state at the principal place of administration. Unless otherwise designated in the trust instrument, the principal place of administration of a trust is the trustee's usual place of business where the records pertaining to the trust are kept, or at the trustee's residence if he or she has no such place of business.

(2) In the case of cotrustees, the principal place of administration, if not otherwise designated in the trust instrument, is (a) the usual place of business of the corporate trustee if there is one corporate cotrustee, (b) the usual place of business or residence of the individual trustee who is a professional fiduciary if there is one such person and no corporate cotrustee, and (c) the usual place of business or residence of any of the cotrustees as agreed upon by such cotrustees.

(3) If there is more than one trustee, any trustee may register the trust in the county in which the principal place of administration is located under subsection (2). If the principal place of administration is determined under subdivision (2)(c) and the cotrustees cannot agree on the principal place of administration, a proceeding may be filed under section 30-3812 by any interested person to determine the principal place of administration.

(4) The right to register under sections 30-3816 to 30-3820 does not apply to the trustee of a trust if registration would be inconsistent with the retained jurisdiction of a foreign court from which the trustee cannot obtain release.

(5) No one other than a trustee shall register a trust. Registration of a trust is not required in order for a court to exercise jurisdiction over a trust, a trustee, or the beneficiaries.

Annotations

When a person has been removed as trustee of a trust, that person no longer has standing under this section to register the trust in Nebraska. In re Trust Created by Del Castillo, 268 Neb. 671, 686 N.W.2d 900 (2004).
Where principal place of administration of testamentary trust was in Iowa, trust could not have been registered in Nebraska under this section. Raynor v. Northwestern National Bank, 211 Neb. 119, 317 N.W.2d 786 (1982).

Registration shall be accomplished by filing a statement indicating the name and address of the trustee in which it acknowledges the trusteeship. The statement shall indicate whether the trust has been registered elsewhere. The statement shall identify the trust: (1) in the case of a testamentary trust, by the name of the testator and the date and place of domiciliary probate; (2) in the case of a written inter vivos trust, by the name of each settlor and the original trustee and the date of the trust instrument; or (3) in the case of an oral trust, by information identifying the settlor or other source of funds and describing the time and manner of the trust's creation and the terms of the trust, including the subject matter, beneficiaries, and time of performance.

The clerk of court shall keep a record for each trust involved in any document which may be filed with the court under sections 30-3816 to 30-3820, including petitions and applications, trust registrations, and of any orders or responses relating thereto by the court, and establish and maintain a system for indexing, filing, or recording which is sufficient to enable users of the records to obtain adequate information. Upon payment of the fees required by law, the clerk must issue certified copies of any record or paper filed or recorded.

(a) By registering a trust, or accepting the trusteeship of a registered trust, the trustee submits personally to the jurisdiction of the court of registration in any proceeding under section 30-3812 relating to the trust that may be initiated by any interested person while the trust remains registered. Notice of any proceeding shall be delivered to the trustee or mailed to him or her by ordinary first-class mail at his or her address as listed in the registration or as thereafter reported to the court and to his or her address as then known to the petitioner.

(b) To the extent of their interests in the trust, all beneficiaries of a trust properly registered in this state are subject to the jurisdiction of the court of registration for the purposes of proceedings under section 30-3812, provided notice is given pursuant to section 30-2220.

Annotations

The act of registering a trust gives the county court jurisdiction over the interests of all notified beneficiaries to decide issues related to any matter involving the trust's administration, including a request for instructions or an action to declare rights. In re Trust Created by Hansen, 274 Neb. 199, 739 N.W.2d 170 (2007).
Under this section, the county court of Dakota County, Nebraska, could not acquire jurisdiction of a trust having principal place of administration in Iowa since the trust could not be registered in Nebraska under section 30-2801. Raynor v. Northwestern National Bank, 211 Neb. 119, 317 N.W.2d 786 (1982).

A foreign corporate trustee is required to qualify as a foreign corporation doing business in this state if it maintains the principal place of administration of any trust within the state. A foreign cotrustee is not required to qualify in this state solely because its cotrustee maintains the principal place of administration in this state. Unless otherwise doing business in this state, local qualification by a foreign trustee, corporate or individual, is not required in order for the trustee to receive distribution from a local estate or to hold, invest in, manage, or acquire property located in this state, or maintain litigation if the laws of the state of incorporation or residence of the foreign trustee grant the same authority to a trustee incorporated or resident in this state. Nothing in this section affects a determination of what other acts require qualification as doing business in this state.

Appellate review under the Nebraska Uniform Trust Code shall be governed by section 30-1601.