Section 7.4 Jurisdiction and Venue

• Library: Trusts and Powers 2013 Supp

A. (§7.4) Jurisdiction and Venue

Generally speaking, an action to construe a trust is within the equitable jurisdiction of the courts. See § 527.010, RSMo 2000. The action may be by a trustee seeking instructions as to its duties or powers. See State ex rel. St. Louis Union Trust Co. v. Sartorius,
164 S.W.2d 356, 359 (Mo. banc 1942); see also § 527.020, RSMo 2000. It may also be by any interested person seeking a declaratory judgment under Rule 87.02, which allows a person interested as or through a trustee in the administration of a trust to have a declaration of rights or legal relations to ascertain heirs, to direct a trustee, or to determine any question arising in the administration of a trust, including questions of construction. Section 527.040, RSMo 2000; see also §§ 527.010–527.130, RSMo 2000 (statutes concerning declaratory judgments).

Registration of a trust under the registration of trusts
statutes, retained as §§ 456.027–456.033, RSMo Supp. 2005, after
the enactment of the Missouri Uniform Trust Code (MUTC),
§§ 456.1-101–456.11-1106, RSMo Supp. 2005, also confers jurisdiction regarding the internal affairs of a trust, which include proceedings involving interpretation and construction. Under these statutes, registration is permitted by a trustee in the probate division of the circuit court of the county where the principal place of administration of the trust is located, and by registering a trust or accepting the trusteeship of a registered trust, a trustee submits to personal jurisdiction in any internal affairs proceeding while the trust is registered. Also, now, under § 456.033.1, all beneficiaries of a registered trust, to the extent of their interests, are subject to the jurisdiction of the court of registration in an internal affairs proceeding, provided they get notice under § 472.100, RSMo 2000, which allows service under a court direction or rule, personally, by publication, by mail, or by any combination as may be provided by the rules of civil procedure.

Under § 456.2-202, RSMo Supp. 2005, of the MUTC, which generally tracks former § 456.440, RSMo (repealed 2004), a trustee who accepts the trusteeship of a trust having its principal place of administration in Missouri, or who moves the principal place of administration to Missouri, submits to personal jurisdiction in Missouri regarding the administration of the trust while the principal place of administration is in Missouri. Section 456.2-202.1. Similarly, and to the extent...