Uniform Trust Code; expands certain specific powers of trustee.
HB2243 amends Virginia’s Uniform Trust Code provision on specific trustee powers. The bill updates and expands the list of actions a trustee may take in administering trust property, including buying, selling, leasing, borrowing against, insuring, improving, and otherwise managing trust assets. It also clarifies trustee authority over business interests, securities, real property, environmental compliance, tax elections, beneficiary distributions, dispute resolution, litigation, and winding up a trust at termination.
The bill also adds or clarifies authority for trustees to form a corporation or other entity and transfer trust property into that entity in exchange for ownership interests, and it revises cross-references and numbering within the statute. In addition, it states that when a trust instrument references powers authorized under another section of the Code, that reference should not be read to limit the trustee’s powers under this section unless the settlor expressly says so.
The bill amends § 64.2-778 of the Code of Virginia, broadening and modernizing the default statutory powers available to trustees under the Uniform Trust Code. Its practical effect is to give trustees clearer and more explicit authority to manage complex assets and transactions, including business entities, real estate development, environmental remediation, tax planning, and alternative dispute resolution, while also preserving the settlor’s ability to restrict those powers in the trust instrument. The changes affect trustees, beneficiaries, estate planners, and trust-administration professionals by reducing ambiguity about what actions a trustee may take without seeking court approval.
The bill appears to have been broadly supported and noncontroversial. It passed every recorded stage unanimously in both chambers, including subcommittee, full committee, and floor votes, with no recorded opposition. The voting history suggests consensus that the changes were technical and administrative in nature, aimed at updating trustee powers rather than altering core trust policy.
No significant contention is reflected in the available record. The bill’s main policy feature is the expansion and clarification of trustee authority, but there is no evidence of opposition from legislators or committee members. If any concern existed, it would likely have centered on the breadth of trustee discretion—especially over business interests, real property, loans, guarantees, and environmental liabilities—but the unanimous votes indicate those issues did not generate visible disagreement.