The term of a trust can end for numerous reasons, including on a specified date certain, after expiration of a term of years, following the death of one or more persons, etc. If it appears that the term of a trust has ended, the districts should not accept documents for filing with respect to that trust and the person desiring to file the documents should be advised that the documents must be approved by the court. Depending on the circumstances, approval may require an order of the court following the filing of a Supplemental Petition; in other cases, an approval by the Chief Title Examiner will suffice. Which will be required will depend on the complexity of the trust and the factual situation.
Even though the term of a trust may have ended, the trustee(s) still may have the power to convey the trust property. For instance, the trust instrument might provide that upon the death of certain persons the trustees are directed to sell the real estate assets in the trust so as to be able to distribute money, rather than tangible property, to the beneficiaries. Or the trust instrument may require the trustee(s) to convey the trust property to the remainder beneficiaries to settle the record title, and the identity of the remainder beneficiaries may be readily apparent. In such circumstances, and similar situations, if less than one year has elapsed since the expiration of the trust, the proponent of the document to be filed should present the facts to the Chief Title Examiner, accompanied by a certificate in accordance with the provisions of G.L. c. 184, § 35, stating that the trustee(s) executing the proffered document are authorized to do so. There will be other circumstances where a Supplemental Petition is not required, because an analysis of the trust instrument and the facts is straightforward.
There are far too many different factual patterns to describe them all in this guideline. Because gaining the approval of the Chief Title Examiner normally is quicker and less expensive than preparing and filing a Supplemental Petition with the Court, the proponent of the document normally should seek Chief Title Examiner approval in the first instance. However, if the trust instrument requires the approval of the beneficiaries of the trust or there is to be a deed of the trust property to the beneficiaries, and in either case the identity of the beneficiaries cannot be determined, a Supplemental Petition to the Court will almost certainly be required.