Your Trust Terms Come First
The terms of the trust document generally control. If your trust gives the trustee certain powers, those terms take priority over the default rules in the trust code.
Except as otherwise provided in the terms of the trust, this chapter governs: 1. The duties, powers, exercise of powers, resignation and appointment of a trustee. 2. Conflicts of interest of a trustee. 3. Relations among trustees. 4. Combinations or divisions of trusts. 5. The rights and interests of a beneficiary.
A.R.S. § 14-10105(A)This means you can tailor trustee powers and set conditions on access. You can also define how distributions work for your family.
A trustee operates within the framework the trust creates. This is different from a personal representative, who follows a court-supervised process.
Rules That Cannot Be Changed
Some protections are built into the law. No trust document can override them. These mandatory rules protect beneficiaries and keep courts available as a safeguard.
The terms of a trust prevail over any provision of this chapter except: 1. The requirements for creating a trust. 2. The duty of a trustee to act in good faith and in accordance with the purposes of the trust. 3. The requirement that a trust and its terms be for the benefit of its beneficiaries and that the trust have a purpose that is lawful, not contrary to public policy and possible to achieve.
A.R.S. § 14-10105(B)(1)-(3)A trust cannot waive the trustee's duty of good faith. It also cannot remove the court's authority to step in when something goes wrong.
Beneficiaries keep certain transparency rights. For example, they can request reports from the trustee of an irrevocable trust. As a result, the person managing someone else's assets always has a duty to act honestly.