3B:20-11.3 Investments, management of trust assets by fiduciary

3. a. A fiduciary shall invest and manage trust assets as a prudent investor would, by considering the purposes, terms, distribution requirements, and other circumstances of the trust. In satisfying this standard, the fiduciary shall exercise reasonable care, skill, and caution.

b. A fiduciary's investment and management decisions respecting individual assets shall not be evaluated in isolation, but in the context of the trust portfolio as a whole and as a part of an overall investment strategy having risk and return objectives reasonably suited to the trust.

c. Subject to the standards established in this act, a fiduciary may invest in any kind of property or type of investment. No specific investment or course of action is inherently imprudent.

d. Among the circumstances that the fiduciary shall consider in investing and managing trust assets are those of the following as are relevant to the trust and its beneficiaries:

(1) general economic conditions;

(2) the possible effect of inflation or deflation;

(3) the expected tax consequences of investment decisions or strategies;

(4) the role that each investment or course of action plays within the overall trust portfolio;

(5) the expected total return from income and the appreciation of capital;

(6) other resources of the beneficiaries;

(7) the need for liquidity, for regularity of income, and for preservation or appreciation of capital; and

(8) an asset's special relationship or special value, if any, to the purposes of the trust or to one or more of the beneficiaries as, for example, an interest in a closely-held enterprise, tangible and intangible personalty, or real estate.

e. The fiduciary shall take reasonable steps to verify facts relevant to the investment and management of trust assets and may rely and be fully protected in relying upon statistical, financial, corporate or other information as to a particular investment, and upon ratings or other opinion as to the financial or other status thereof, contained in or offered by any financial, statistical, investment, rating or other publication or service published for the use of and accepted as reliable by investors in like investments or upon a copy of the prospectus prepared and filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission in connection with a new issue.

f. A fiduciary who has special skills or expertise, or is named fiduciary in reliance upon representations of special skills or expertise, has a duty to use those special skills or expertise.

L.1997,c.26,s.3.