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Judicial control of discretionary powers - 20 Pa. Cons. Stat. § 8106

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     § 8106.  Judicial control of discretionary powers.
        (a)  Standard of review.--A court shall not change a
     fiduciary's decision to exercise or not to exercise a
     discretionary power conferred by this chapter unless it
     determines that the decision was an abuse of the fiduciary's
     discretion.
        (b)  Remedies.--If a court determines that a fiduciary has
     abused its discretion regarding a discretionary power conferred
     by this chapter, the remedy is to restore the income and
     remainder beneficiaries to the positions they would have
     occupied if the fiduciary had not abused its discretion,
     according to the following rules:
            (1)  To the extent that the abuse of discretion has
        resulted in no distribution to a beneficiary or a
        distribution which is too small, the court shall require the
        fiduciary to distribute from the trust to the beneficiary an
        amount that the court determines will restore the
        beneficiary, in whole or in part, to the beneficiary's
        appropriate position.
            (2)  To the extent that the abuse of discretion has
        resulted in a distribution to a beneficiary which is too
        large, the court shall restore the beneficiaries, the trust
        or both, in whole or in part, to their appropriate positions
        by requiring the fiduciary to withhold an amount from one or
        more future distributions to the beneficiary who received the
        distribution that was too large or requiring that beneficiary
        or that beneficiary's estate to return some or all of the
        distribution to the trust, notwithstanding a spendthrift or
        similar provision.
            (3)  If the abuse of discretion concerns the power to
        convert a trust into a unitrust, the court shall require the
        trustee either to convert into a unitrust or to reconvert
        from a unitrust.
            (4)  To the extent that the court is unable, after
        applying paragraphs (1), (2) and (3), to restore the
        beneficiaries, the trust or both to the positions they would
        have occupied if the fiduciary had not abused its discretion,
        the court may require the fiduciary to pay an appropriate
        amount from its own funds to one or more of the beneficiaries
        or the trust or both.

Last modified: November 27, 2007