## Facts

- Evelyn S. Plummer created an irrevocable trust in 1967 for her support during life and for specified post-death benefits to her daughter (Vivian) and son-in-law (Grant E. Miller), plus educational assistance for their children.
- After Plummer’s death (1976), the trust required $200 monthly payments to Vivian and Grant Miller, and authorized educational payments for the grandchildren.
- The instrument provided that, after Vivian and Grant Miller died, the trust would be divided into equal shares for the then-living children, with staged age-based distributions; any remainder was to fund a University of Wyoming scholarship.
- Vivian died in 1992; Grant Miller remained living but assigned his interest in the monthly payments to the three children.
- The grandchildren reached ages where they no longer sought educational benefits, and all beneficiaries (Grant Miller, the three children, and the University of Wyoming) agreed to terminate the trust immediately and distribute the corpus by agreement.
- The trustee bank refused to terminate, asserting it was bound to follow the instrument’s timing and duration terms.

## Issues

1. Whether an irrevocable trust may be terminated before its stated termination events when all beneficiaries consent and no material purpose of the settlor remains unfulfilled.
2. Whether a trustee who is not a beneficiary has standing to oppose termination and appeal an order terminating the trust.
3. Whether a trustee must personally pay a supersedeas bond premium incurred to stay enforcement during appeal, or whether the cost may be charged to the trust.

## Decision

- The Wyoming Supreme Court affirmed the summary judgment terminating the trust, adopting Restatement (Second) of Trusts § 337 as Wyoming law.
- The court held the trustee had standing as an aggrieved party to litigate and appeal in defense of the trust and its assets.
- The court reversed the order requiring the trustee to pay the supersedeas bond premium from its own funds, holding the expense should be borne by the trust absent bad faith or similar misconduct.

## Legal Principles

- An irrevocable trust may be terminated at the demand of all competent beneficiaries if no material purpose of the trust remains to be accomplished.  
- A trustee has authority and standing to prosecute or defend proceedings to protect trust assets and to appeal adverse orders affecting the trust.
- A trustee acting in good faith to defend the trust generally is entitled to have reasonable litigation-related expenses, including a supersedeas bond premium, treated as trust expenses; personal liability requires a showing such as bad faith or comparable wrongdoing.

## Conclusion

Wyoming adopted the Restatement rule allowing unanimous beneficiaries to compel early termination of an irrevocable trust when the settlor’s material purposes have been fulfilled, while confirming the trustee’s right to contest termination and appeal and limiting personal cost-shifting for good-faith defense of the trust.


Am. Nat'l Bank of Cheyenne v. Miller, 899 P.2d 1337 (Wyo. 1995)