48.475 Trust service offices. 

    Subdivision 1.    Authorization.  Any trust company 
 organized under the laws of this state and any state bank which 
 is permitted to exercise trust powers under the provisions of 
 Minnesota Statutes, sections 48.37 to 48.47 may, after 
 completing the notification procedure required by this 
 subdivision, establish and maintain a trust service office at 
 any office in this state of any other state or national bank. 
 Any state bank may, after completing the notification procedure 
 required by this subdivision, permit any trust company organized 
 under the laws of this state or any state bank which is 
 permitted to exercise trust powers under the provisions of 
 sections 48.37 to 48.47 or any national bank in this state which 
 is authorized to exercise trust powers to establish and maintain 
 a trust service office at any of its banking offices.  

    Any trust company or state bank permitted to exercise trust 
 powers and a state bank at which a trust service office is to be 
 established pursuant to this section shall jointly file, on 
 forms provided by the commissioner, a notification of intent to 
 establish a trust service office.  The notification shall be 
 accompanied by a filing fee of $100 payable to the commissioner, 
 to be deposited in the general fund of the state.  No trust 
 service office shall be established pursuant to this section if 
 disallowed by order of the commissioner within 45 days of the 
 filing of a complete and acceptable notification of intent to 
 establish a trust service office.  Any proceedings for judicial 
 review of an order of the commissioner to disallow the 
 establishment of a trust service office under this section shall 
 be conducted pursuant to the provisions of the administrative 
 procedure act relating to judicial review of agency decisions, 
 sections 14.63 to 14.69, and the scope of judicial review in 
 such proceedings shall be as provided therein.  

    Subd. 2.    Services permitted.  Any trust company or 
 bank which establishes a trust service office under subdivision 
 1 may conduct at the office any trust business and business 
 incidental thereto which it is permitted to conduct at its 
 principal office, but it may not accept deposits except as 
 incidental to trust business.  

    Subd. 3.    General requirements.  If the bank at which 
 a trust service office is to be established has exercised trust 
 powers, then the trust company or bank which is establishing the 
 trust service office shall enter into an agreement respecting 
 those fiduciary powers to which the trust company or bank shall 
 succeed and shall file the agreement with the commissioner.  The 
 trust company or bank which is establishing a trust service 
 office under subdivision 1 shall publish a notice of the filing 
 in the form prescribed by the commissioner in a newspaper 
 published in the municipality in which the trust service office 
 is to be located, and if there is no such newspaper, then in a 
 qualified newspaper likely to give notice in the municipality in 
 which the proposed trust service office is to be located, and 
 proof of publication shall be filed with the commissioner 
 immediately after publication of the notice of filing.  After 
 filing and publication, the trust company or bank establishing 
 the trust service office shall, as of the date the office first 
 opens for business, and without further authorization of any 
 kind, succeed to and be substituted for the bank at which the 
 trust service office is located as to all fiduciary powers, 
 rights, duties, privileges, and liabilities of the bank in its 
 capacity as fiduciary for all estates, trusts, conservatorships, 
 guardianships, and other fiduciary relationships of which the 
 bank is then serving as fiduciary, except as may be otherwise 
 specified in the agreement between the bank and the trust 
 company or bank which has established the trust service office.  
 The trust company or bank which has established the trust 
 service office shall also be deemed named as fiduciary in all 
 writings, including, but not limited to, wills, trusts, court 
 orders, and similar documents and instruments, naming the bank 
 at which the trust service office is located signed before the 
 date the trust service office first opens for business, unless 
 expressly negated by the writing or otherwise specified in the 
 agreement between the trust company or bank and the bank at 
 which the trust service office is located.  On the effective 
 date of the substitution, the bank at which the trust service 
 office has been established shall be released and absolved from 
 all fiduciary duties and obligations under the writings and 
 shall discontinue its exercise of trust powers on all matters 
 not specifically retained by the agreement.  This subdivision 
 does not absolve the bank from liabilities arising out of any 
 breach of fiduciary duty or obligation occurring prior to the 
 date the trust service office first opens for business.  This 
 subdivision does not affect the authority, duties, or 
 obligations of a bank with respect to relationships which may be 
 established without trust powers, whether the relationships 
 arise before or after the establishment of the trust service 
 office.  

    Subd. 4.    Supervision.  Every trust company or state 
 bank permitted to exercise trust powers establishing and 
 operating one or more trust service offices pursuant to this 
 section shall at all times maintain records acceptable to the 
 commissioner regarding transactions originating at such trust 
 service offices and available at its principal office for 
 examination pursuant to sections 46.04 and 46.05.  

    Subd. 5.    National banks; requirements.  If a trust 
 service office is established by a national bank at the banking 
 office of another national bank, then the agreement respecting 
 fiduciary powers required by subdivision 3 shall be filed with 
 the comptroller of the currency of the United States and the 
 notice required by subdivision 3 shall be in the form prescribed 
 by the comptroller of the currency.  

    Subd. 6.    Notice of substitutions; denial of 
 substitution.  Not less than 60 days prior to the effective 
 date of the proposed substitution under subdivision 3 or 5, the 
 parties to the substitution shall send written notice of the 
 proposed substitution to each cofiduciary, each surviving 
 settlor of a trust, each conservatee or ward under a 
 conservatorship or guardianship, each person who alone or in 
 conjunction with others has the power to remove the fiduciary 
 being substituted, and each adult beneficiary currently 
 receiving or entitled to receive a distribution of principal or 
 income from a trust or estate with respect to which the 
 substitution is to be effected.  Intentional failure to send the 
 notice to any party at the party's current address as shown on 
 the fiduciary's records shall render ineffective the 
 substitution of fiduciaries with respect to the fiduciary 
 relationship, but an unintentional failure to give notice shall 
 not impair the validity or effect of any substitution of 
 fiduciaries under subdivision 3 or 5.  A trust company or bank 
 which is substituted or about to be substituted as fiduciary 
 with respect to a trust, estate, conservatorship, or 
 guardianship under subdivision 3 or 5 may be removed as 
 fiduciary, or the substitution may be denied, upon petition by a 
 cofiduciary, by a beneficiary of a trust or estate, by the 
 settlor of a trust or on behalf of a conservatee or ward under a 
 conservatorship or guardianship if the trust company or bank 
 files a written consent to its removal or a written declination 
 to act, or if the court having jurisdiction over the fiduciary 
 relationship, upon notice and hearing, approves the petition as 
 in the best interests of the petitioner and all other parties 
 interested in the trust, estate, conservatorship, or 
 guardianship.  This subdivision applies in addition to any 
 applicable provision for removal of a fiduciary or appointment 
 of a successor fiduciary in any other statute or in the 
 instrument creating the fiduciary relationship. 

    HIST: 1984 c 506 s 1; 1989 c 166 s 6; 1995 c 202 art 1 s 9