223.07 Trust service offices.
(1) Any trust company bank may, with the approval of the division, establish and maintain a trust service office at any office of a depository institution, as defined in s. 221.0901 (2) (i), if the establishment of the trust service office has been approved by the board of directors of the depository institution at a meeting called for that purpose.
(2) Upon establishment of a trust service office under sub. (1), the trust company bank may conduct at the office any trust business and business incidental thereto which it is permitted to conduct at its principal office, but may not accept deposits except as incidental to the trust business.
(3) If the depository institution at which a trust service office is to be established has exercised trust powers, the trust company bank and the depository institution shall enter into an agreement respecting those fiduciary powers to which the trust company bank shall succeed and shall file the agreement with the division. The trust company bank shall cause a notice of the filing, in a form prescribed by the division, to be published as a class 1 notice, under ch. 985, in the city, village or town where the depository institution is located. After filing and publication, the trust company bank establishing the office shall, as of the date the office first opens for business, without further authorization of any kind, succeed to and be substituted for the depository institution as to all fiduciary powers, rights, duties, privileges, and liabilities of the depository institution in its capacity as fiduciary for all estates, trusts, guardianships, and other fiduciary relationships of which the depository institution is then serving as fiduciary, except as may be otherwise specified in the agreement between the trust company bank and the depository institution. The trust company bank shall also be deemed named as fiduciary in all writings, including wills, trusts, court orders, and similar documents and instruments naming the depository institution as fiduciary, signed before the date the trust office first opens for business, unless expressly negated by the writing or otherwise specified in the agreement between the trust company bank and the depository institution. On the effective date of the substitution, the depository institution shall be released and absolved from all fiduciary duties and obligations under such writings and shall discontinue its exercise of trust powers on all matters not specifically retained by the agreement. This subsection does not effect a discharge if required by a court under s. 701.0201 (1) or other applicable statutes and does not absolve a depository institution exercising trust powers 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 at the depository institution. This subsection does not affect the authority, duties, or obligations of a depository institution with respect to relationships which may be established without trust powers, including escrow arrangements, whether the relationships arise before or after the establishment of the trust service office.
(4) Not less than 60 days prior to the effective date of a proposed substitution under sub. (3), the parties to the substitution shall send written notice of the proposed substitution to each cofiduciary, each surviving settlor of a trust, each ward under 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 such substitution is to be effected. Intentional failure to send such notice to any such party at the party's current address as shown in the fiduciary's records shall render not effective the substitution of fiduciaries with respect to such fiduciary relationship, but an unintentional failure to give such notice shall not impair the validity or effect of any substitution of fiduciaries under sub. (3). A trust company bank substituted or about to be substituted as fiduciary with respect to a trust, estate or guardianship under sub. (3) 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 ward under guardianship if the trust company 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 or guardianship. This subsection 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.
History: 1977 c. 307; 1995 a. 27, 336; 2005 a. 158; 2013 a. 92.