South Carolina Code § 62-7-816

Specific powers of trustee.
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Without limiting the authority conferred by Section 62-7-815, a trustee may:
(1) collect trust property and accept or reject additions to the trust property from a settlor or any other person;
(2) acquire or sell property, for cash or on credit, at public or private sale;
(3) exchange, partition, or otherwise change the character of trust property;
(4) deposit trust money in accounts—all types including margin accounts—in a regulated financial-service institution;
(5) borrow money, with or without security, and mortgage or pledge trust property for a period within or extending beyond the duration of the trust;
(6) with respect to an interest in a proprietorship, partnership, limited liability company, business trust, corporation, or other form of business or enterprise, create and/or continue a business or other enterprise and take any action that may be taken by shareholders, members, or property owners, including merging, dissolving, or otherwise changing the form of business organization or contributing additional capital;
(7) with respect to stocks or other securities, exercise the rights of an absolute owner, including the right to:
(A) vote, or give proxies to vote, with or without power of substitution, or enter into or continue a voting trust agreement;
(B) hold a security in the name of a nominee or in other form without disclosure of the trust so that title may pass by delivery;
(C) pay calls, assessments, and other sums chargeable or accruing against the securities, and sell or exercise stock subscription or conversion rights; and
(D) deposit the securities with a depositary or other regulated financial-service institution;
(8) with respect to an interest in real property, construct, or make ordinary or extraordinary repairs to, alterations to, or improvements in, buildings or other structures, demolish improvements, raze existing or erect new party walls or buildings, subdivide or develop land, dedicate land to public use or grant public or private easements, including by way of example qualified conservation and façade easements, and make or vacate plats and adjust boundaries;
(9) enter into a lease for any purpose as lessor or lessee, including a lease or other arrangement for exploration and removal of natural resources, with or without the option to purchase or renew, for a period within or extending beyond the duration of the trust;
(10) grant an option involving a sale, lease, or other disposition of trust property or acquire an option for the acquisition of property, including an option exercisable beyond the duration of the trust, and exercise an option so acquired;
(11) insure the property of the trust against damage or loss and insure the trustee, the trustee's agents, and beneficiaries against liability arising from the administration of the trust;
(12) abandon or decline to administer property of no value or of insufficient value to justify its collection or continued administration;
(13) with respect to possible liability for violation of environmental law:
(A) inspect or investigate property the trustee holds or has been asked to hold, or property owned or operated by an organization in which the trustee holds or has been asked to hold an interest, for the purpose of determining the application of environmental law with respect to the property;
(B) take action to prevent, abate, or otherwise remedy any actual or potential violation of any environmental law affecting property held directly or indirectly by the trustee, whether taken before or after the assertion of a claim or the initiation of governmental enforcement;
(C) decline to accept property into trust or disclaim any power with respect to property that is or may be burdened with liability for violation of environmental law;
(D) compromise claims against the trust which may be asserted for an alleged violation of environmental law; and
(E) pay the expense of any inspection, review, abatement, or remedial action to comply with environmental law;
(14) pay or contest any claim, settle a claim by or against the trust, and release, in whole or in part, a claim belonging to the trust;
(15) pay taxes, assessments, compensation of the trustee and of employees and agents of the trust, and other expenses incurred in the administration of the trust;
(16) exercise elections with respect to federal, state, and local taxes;
(17) select a mode of payment under any employee benefit or retirement plan, annuity, or life insurance payable to the trustee, exercise rights thereunder, including exercise of the right to indemnification for expenses and against liabilities, and take appropriate action to collect the proceeds;
(18) make loans out of trust property, including loans to a beneficiary on terms and conditions the trustee considers to be fair and reasonable under the circumstances, and the trustee has a lien on future distributions for repayment of those loans;
(19) pledge trust property to guarantee loans made by others to the beneficiary;
(20) appoint a trustee to act in another jurisdiction with respect to trust property located in the other jurisdiction, confer upon the appointed trustee all of the powers and duties of the appointing trustee, require that the appointed trustee furnish security, and remove any trustee so appointed;
(21) pay an amount distributable to a beneficiary who is under a legal disability or who the trustee reasonably believes is incapacitated, by paying it directly to the beneficiary or applying it for the beneficiary's benefit, or by:
(A) paying it to the beneficiary's agent under a Power of Attorney, to the beneficiary's conservator or, if the beneficiary does not have a conservator, to the beneficiary's guardian;
(B) paying it to the beneficiary's custodian under the Uniform Gifts or Transfers to Minors Act or custodial trustee under the Uniform Custodial Trust Act, and, for that purpose, creating a custodianship or custodial trust;
(C) if the trustee does not know of an agent under a Power of Attorney, conservator, guardian, custodian, or custodial trustee, paying it to an adult relative or other person having legal or physical care or custody of the beneficiary, to be expended on the beneficiary's behalf; or
(D) managing it as a separate fund on the beneficiary's behalf, subject to the beneficiary's continuing right to withdraw the distribution;
(22) on distribution of trust property or the division or termination of a trust, make distributions in divided or undivided interests, allocate particular assets in proportionate or disproportionate shares, value the trust property for those purposes, and adjust for resulting differences in valuation;
(23) resolve a dispute concerning the interpretation of the trust or its administration by mediation, arbitration, or other procedure for alternative dispute resolution;
(24) prosecute or defend an action, claim, or judicial proceeding in any jurisdiction to protect trust property and the trustee in the performance of the trustee's duties;
(25) sign and deliver contracts and other instruments that are useful to achieve or facilitate the exercise of the trustee's powers;
(26) on termination of the trust, exercise the powers appropriate to wind up the administration of the trust and distribute the trust property to the persons entitled to it;
(27) allocate items of income or expense to either trust income or principal, as permitted or provided by the trust instrument and applicable law, but this power shall not be construed as prescribing the method of accounting for principal and income; and
(28) to divide any trust into separate shares or separate trusts or to create separate trusts if the trustee reasonably deems it appropriate and the division or creation is consistent with the settlor's intent and facilitates the trust's administration without defeating or impairing the interests of the beneficiaries.
SECTION 62-7-816A. Authority to appoint the property of original trust to second trust.
(a) Unless the terms of the instrument expressly provide otherwise, a trustee with the discretion to make distributions of principal or income to or for the benefit of one or more beneficiaries of a trust, the original trust, may exercise that discretion by appointing all or part of the property subject to that discretion in favor of another trust for the benefit of one or more of those beneficiaries, the second trust. This power may be exercised without the approval of a court, but court approval is necessary if the terms of the original trust expressly prohibit the exercise of such power or require court approval.
(b) The trustee of the original trust may exercise this power whether or not there is a current need to distribute principal or income under any standard provided in the original trust. The trustee's special power to appoint trust principal or income in further trust under this section includes the power to create the second trust.
(c) The second trust may be a trust created under the same trust instrument as the original trust or under a different trust instrument, and the trustee of the second trust may be either the trustee of the original trust or another trustee.
(d) The terms of the second trust are subject to the following requirements:
(1) The beneficiaries of the second trust may include only beneficiaries of the original trust.
(2) A beneficiary who has only a future beneficial interest, vested or contingent, in the original trust cannot have the future beneficial interest accelerated to a present interest in the second trust.
(3) The terms of the second trust may not contain any provision nor reduce any fixed income, annuity, or unitrust interest of a beneficiary in the assets of an original trust document if the inclusion of the provision or reduction in the original trust document would have disqualified any assets of the original trust for any federal or state income, estate, or gift tax deduction received on account of any assets of the original trust, or if the inclusion of the provision or reduction in the original trust would have reduced the amount of any federal or state income, estate, or gift tax deduction received. In addition, the terms of the second trust may not reduce any retained interest of a beneficiary of the original trust if the interest is a qualified interest under Internal Revenue Code Section 2702.
(4) If contributions to the original trust have been excluded from the gift tax by the application of Internal Revenue Code Section 2503(b) and Section 2503(c), then the second trust shall provide that the beneficiary's remainder interest in the contributions shall vest and become distributable no later than the date upon which the interest would have vested and become distributable under the terms of the original trust.
(5) If a beneficiary of the original trust has a power of withdrawal over trust property, then either:
(A) the terms of the second trust must provide a power of withdrawal in the second trust identical to the power of withdrawal in the original trust; or
(B) sufficient trust property must remain in the original trust to satisfy the outstanding power of withdrawal.
(6) If the power to distribute principal or income in the original trust is subject to an ascertainable standard, then the power to distribute income or principal in the second trust must be subject to the same ascertainable standard as in the original trust and must be exercisable in favor of the same beneficiaries as in the original trust.
(7) The second trust may confer a power of appointment upon a beneficiary of the original trust to whom or for the benefit of whom the trustee has the power to distribute principal or income of the original trust. The permissible appointees of the power of appointment conferred upon a beneficiary may include persons who are not beneficiaries of the original or second trust.
(e) A trustee may not exercise the power to appoint principal or income under subsection (a) of this section if the trustee is a beneficiary of the original trust, but the remaining cotrustee or a majority of the remaining cotrustees may act for the trust. If all the trustees are beneficiaries of the original trust, then the court may appoint a special fiduciary with authority to exercise the power to appoint principal or income under subsection (a) of this section.
(f) The exercise of the power to appoint principal or income under subsection (a) of this section:
(1) is considered the exercise of a power of appointment, other than a power to appoint to the trustee, the trustee's creditors, the trustee's estate or the creditors of the trustee's estate;
(2) does not result in the trustee or cotrustees of the original trust being considered the settlor of the second trust;
(3) is not prohibited by a spendthrift provision or by a provision in the trust instrument that prohibits amendment or revocation of the trust.
(g) To effect the exercise of the power to appoint principal or income under subsection (a) of this section, all of the following apply:
(1) The exercise of the power to appoint must be made by an instrument in writing, signed and acknowledged by the trustee, setting forth the manner of the exercise of the power, including the terms of the second trust, and the effective date of the exercise of the power. The instrument must be filed with the records of the original trust.
(2) The trustee shall give written notice to all qualified beneficiaries of the original trust, at least ninety days prior to the effective date of the exercise of the power to appoint, of the trustee's intention to exercise the power. The notice must include a copy of the instrument described in item (1) of this subsection.
(3) If all qualified beneficiaries waive the notice period by a signed written instrument delivered to the trustee, the trustee's power to appoint principal or income is exercisable after notice is waived by all qualified beneficiaries, notwithstanding the effective date of the exercise of the power.
(h) The provisions of this section shall not be construed to create or imply a duty of the trustee to exercise the power to distribute principal or income, or to create an inference of impropriety made as a result of a trustee not exercising the power to appoint principal or income conferred under subsection (a) of this section. The provisions of this section shall not be construed to abridge the right of any trustee who has a power to appoint property in further trust that arises under the terms of the original trust or under any other section of this article or under another provision of law or under common law. The terms of an original trust may modify or waive the notice requirements under subsection (g), reduce or increase restrictions on altering the interests of beneficiaries under subsection (d), and may otherwise contain provisions that are inconsistent with the requirements of this section.
(i) A trustee or beneficiary may commence a proceeding to approve or disapprove a proposed exercise of the trustee's special power to appoint to another trust pursuant to subsection (a) of this section.
(j) The provisions of Section 62-7-109 regarding notices and the sending of documents to persons under this article apply for the purposes of notices and the sending of documents under this section.

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