Legislative Approaches To Trust Arbitration In The United States PDF Download

Arbitration of internal trust disputes (meaning disputes involving trustees and beneficiaries and relating to the inner workings of the trust) has become increasingly common in recent years, both as a result of legislation and decisions of national courts. A number of arbitral institutions have also adopted provisions tailored to the arbitration of these types of disputes. However, these rules have not often by discussed by experts in trust or arbitration law. This chapter considers several specialized rule sets that can be used in matters involving internal trust disputes and compares the relative benefits of the different mechanisms. Two regimes - one sponsored by the American Arbitration Association (AAA) and one created by the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) - are already in place. Another approach has been proposed by the American College of Trust and Estate Counsel (ACTEC), although it has not yet been adopted by any arbitral institution or legislature. The final mechanism has been adopted by the German Arbitral Institution (DIS), but technically refers to internal shareholder (corporate) disputes. However, the DIS Supplementary Rules for Corporate Law Disputes provide some interesting insights into trust arbitration and are therefore discussed herein. This chapter is part of a larger collection of essays discussing arbitration as a matter of both national and international law. Both the chapter and the book in which it is found consider trust arbitration from both a trust law and arbitration law perspective, which is critical to a proper understanding of the issues at stake. The chapter and the book also discuss trust arbitration as a matter of domestic and international law, thereby recognizing the differences in national approaches to trust arbitration while also respecting the importance of offshore jurisdictions in trust law and practice. Trust arbitration is a new and exciting area of law, practice and scholarship, and one that is expected to expand rapidly in the coming years. This chapter provides an important introduction to the comparative, international and interdisciplinary issues that arise when institutions seek to support settlors who require arbitration of trust-related disputes thorough inclusion of an arbitration provision in a trust.