Sec. 13.36.035. - Court jurisdiction; choice of law.
(a) The court has exclusive jurisdiction of proceedings initiated by interested parties concerning the internal affairs of trusts, including trusts covered by (c) of this section. Except as provided in (c) and (d) of this section, proceedings that may be maintained under this section are those concerning the administration and distribution of trusts, the declaration of rights, and the determination of other matters involving trustees and beneficiaries of trusts. These include proceedings to
(1) appoint or remove a trustee under AS 13.36.076 ;
(2) review trustees' fees and to review and settle interim or final accounts;
(3) ascertain beneficiaries, determine any question arising in the administration or distribution of any trust including questions of construction of trust instruments, instruct trustees, and determine the existence or nonexistence of any immunity, power, privilege, duty, or right; and
(4) release registration of a trust.
(b) Neither registration of a trust nor a proceeding under this section results in continuing supervisory proceedings. The management and distribution of a trust estate, submission of accounts and reports to beneficiaries, payment of trustee's fees and other obligations of a trust, acceptance and change of trusteeship, and other aspects of the administration of a trust shall proceed expeditiously consistently with the terms of the trust, free of judicial intervention and without order, approval or other action of any court, subject to the jurisdiction of the court as invoked by interested parties or as otherwise exercised as provided by law.
(c) A provision that the laws of this state govern the validity, construction, and administration of the trust and that the trust is subject to the jurisdiction of this state is valid, effective, and conclusive for the trust if
(1) some or all of the trust assets are deposited in this state and are being administered by a qualified person; in this paragraph, "deposited in this state" includes being held in a checking account, time deposit, certificate of deposit, brokerage account, trust company fiduciary account, or other similar account or deposit that is located in this state;
(2) a trustee is a qualified person who is designated as a trustee under the governing instrument or by a court having jurisdiction over the trust;
(3) the powers of the trustee identified under (2) of this subsection include or are limited to
(A) maintaining records for the trust on an exclusive basis or a nonexclusive basis; and
(B) preparing or arranging for the preparation of, on an exclusive basis or a nonexclusive basis, an income tax return that must be filed by the trust; and
(4) part or all of the administration occurs in this state, including physically maintaining trust records in this state.
(d) The validity, construction, and administration of a trust with a state jurisdiction provision are determined by the laws of this state, including the
(1) capacity of the settlor;
(2) powers, obligations, liabilities, and rights of the trustees and the appointment and removal of the trustees under AS 13.36.076 ; and
(3) existence and extent of powers, conferred or retained, including a trustee's discretionary powers, the powers retained by a beneficiary of the trust, and the validity of the exercise of a power.
(e) [Repealed, Sec. 22 ch 105 SLA 1998].