Where the statute uses it: Minn. Stat. § 501C.0704
What it means
Being named in the document is not the same as holding the office. Section 501C.0704(a) lists six events that open a vacancy: a designated trustee rejects the trusteeship; a designated trustee cannot be identified or does not exist; a trustee resigns; a trustee is disqualified or removed; a trustee dies; or a guardian or conservator is appointed for an individual serving as trustee.
Paragraph (c) then sets the order of priority for a vacancy in a noncharitable trust that is required to be filled: the person designated in the terms of the trust, a person appointed by unanimous agreement of the qualified beneficiaries, a person appointed under a nonjudicial settlement agreement, and a person appointed by the court. Paragraph (d) gives a charitable trust a different second priority — a person selected by the charitable organizations expressly designated to receive distributions, if the attorney general concurs.
Acceptance is its own step, and § 501C.0701 puts a clock on it.
A person designated as trustee who has not yet accepted the trusteeship may reject the trusteeship. A designated trustee who does not accept the trusteeship within a reasonable time after knowing of the designation, but not more than 120 days, is deemed to have rejected the trusteeship.
The 2025 legislature added the 120-day outer limit. Before the amendment the deemed rejection ran on “within a reasonable time after knowing of the designation” with no number attached.
Where the word shows up
In the article of the trust instrument naming who serves next, and in the sentence of § 501C.0704(b) most successors never read: a vacancy need not be filled while a cotrustee remains in office.
Getting sick is not on the § 501C.0704(a) list; the appointment of a guardian or conservator for the individual serving as trustee is. Moving away is not on it either.
Paragraph (c) of § 501C.0701 protects the person still deciding. Without accepting, a designated trustee may act to preserve trust property, provided that within a reasonable time after acting the person sends a rejection of the trusteeship to the settlor — or, if the settlor is dead or lacks capacity, to a qualified beneficiary. The same paragraph permits inspecting or investigating trust property.
The machinery behind the word
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Sources checked September 8, 2026. Independently verified against the primary source September 8, 2026.