CHAPTER 226
Of the Settlement of Personal Estates.
AN ACT IN RELATION TO THE ACCOUNTS OF TRUSTEES AND INVESTMENT OF TRUST FUNDS.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the State of Delaware in General Assembly met:
Section 1. When a will is probated before the Register of Wills for any of the counties of the State of Delaware, containing a bequest or devise in trust to pay the income arising from any part of the estate of the testator to or for the benefit of a person or persons other than the person or corporation named as trustee, the Register of Wills before whom the probate is made, shall, within ten days thereafter, deliver to the Register in Chancery for his county, a certificate setting forth the name of the testator, the name of the place of the testator's recent abode, the date of the probate of his will, the name of the trustee appointed thereby and the trustee's post office address, and the provisions of the said will relating to said trust or trusts. The Register in Chancery for the several counties shall keep a record in which shall be entered the names of the testators, the names and post-office addresses of the trustees, the dates of their appointment or the dates upon which their trusts become operative, and the dates on which their accounts are passed, and shall file their certificates delivered to them by the Register of Wills among the records of their offices.
Section 2. Excepting as hereinafter provided, all trustees named in wills, as well as trustees appointed by the Chancellor, shall file with the Register in Chancery in the county in two years which such wills are probated or in which such appointments are made, and submit for the approval of the Chancellor, just and true accounts, showing all receipts and disbursements of their trusts and the manner of the investment of the principal funds thereof, at least once in every two years, and oftener and at such other times as the Chancellor may direct.
Trustees named in wills heretofore probated, may file and submit accounts of their trusts as aforesaid at such times as they may deem necessary, and they shall be required to file and submit accounts as aforesaid only upon a rule of the Register in Chancery as aforesaid, issued .upon them pursuant to the written request of any one beneficially interested in their trusts, or upon the order of the Chancellor.
Trustees named in wills hereafter probated, wherein the filing and submitting of accounts as aforesaid are waived by express provision, shall be required to file and submit accounts of their trusts only in accordance with the express terms thereof, if any, or upon the order of the Chancellor.
Section 3. Excepting where instruments creating trusts prescribed otherwise, trustees named in wills or appointed by the Chancellor, may hereafter invest the funds of their trusts in securities of the following classes and kinds, viz:
(a) Stocks and bonds and interest bearing obligations of the United States, for which the faith and credit of the United States are pledged to provide for the payment of the interest and principal thereof, including the bonds of the District of Columbia;
(b) Stocks and bonds and interest bearing obligations of the State of Delaware and of any other State of the United States, issued pursuant to the authority of the law relating thereto;
(c) Stocks and bonds of any county of the State of Delaware and of any county of any State of the United States, issued pursuant to the authority of the law relating thereto;
(d) Stocks and bonds of any school district of the State of Delaware, issued for school purposes and pursuant to the authority of the law
(e) Stocks and bonds and interest bearing obligations of any incorporated city or town of the State of Delaware or of any of the States of the United States, issued pursuant to the authority of the law relating thereto, for the payment of which the faith and credit of the municipality issuing the same, are pledged;
(f) Bonds of either natural persons or corporations, secured by first mortgage on productive real estate, free from prior incumbrances;
(g) Bonds of railroad, transportation and public service corporations, secured by mortgage upon the property, plants and systems of such corporations;
(h) Collateral trust bonds of railroad, transportation and public service corporations, where the same are secured by guaranteed underlying stocks (or bonds secured thereby); where no default in the payment of installments of principal or of interest for more than ninety days after the same has become due, has occurred in connection therewith, within a period of ten years preceding the investment of trust funds therein;
(i) Car trust certificates and equipment trust bonds;
(j) Underlying securities of railroad, transportation and public service corporations, bearing guaranteed dividends, where no default in dividends has occurred after the guaranty;
(k) Such other securities as may be approved by the Chancellor.
Provided that nothing in this Act contained, shall be construed to repeal or amend Chapter 208, Volume 18, Laws of Delaware, and the amendments thereto, or to change, alter or limit the provisions and purposes thereof.
Approved April 5, A. D. 1909.