North Dakota Century Code Title 59. Trusts § 59-09-11. Nonjudicial settlement agreements

1. For purposes of this section, “interested persons” means a trustee and persons whose consent would be required in order to achieve a binding settlement were the settlement to be approved by the court.

2. Except as otherwise provided in subsection 3, interested persons may enter into a binding nonjudicial settlement agreement with respect to any matter involving a trust.

3. A nonjudicial settlement agreement is valid only to the extent it does not violate a material purpose of the trust and includes terms and conditions that could be properly approved by the court under chapters 59-09, 59-10, 59-11, 59-12, 59-13, 59-14, 59-15, 59-16, 59-17, 59-18, and 59-19 or other applicable law. A spendthrift provision in the terms of a trust is presumed to constitute a material purpose of the trust.

4. Matters that may be resolved by a nonjudicial settlement agreement include the interpretation or construction of the terms of the trust, the approval of a trustee's report or accounting, direction to a trustee to refrain from performing a particular act or the grant to a trustee of any necessary or desirable power, the resignation or appointment of a trustee and the determination of a trustee's compensation, transfer of a trust's principal place of administration, liability of a trustee for an action relating to the trust, the extent or waiver of bond of a trustee, and the criteria for distribution to a beneficiary where the trustee is given discretion.

5. Any interested person may request the court to approve a nonjudicial settlement agreement to determine whether the representation as provided in chapter 59-11 was adequate and to determine whether the agreement contains terms and conditions the court could have properly approved.