Section 223.03. Corporate powers.

  A trust company bank shall have the following powers:

(1)  To make all contracts necessary and proper to effect its purpose and conduct its business.

(2)  To sue and be sued, to appear and defend in all actions and proceedings under its corporate name to the same extent as a natural person.

(3)  To have a common seal and alter the same at pleasure.

(4)  To elect or appoint all necessary officers, agents, and servants, to define their duties and obligations, fix their compensations, dismiss them, fill vacancies, and require bonds.

(5)  To make, amend, and repeal bylaws and regulations not inconsistent with law or its articles of organization, for its own government, for the orderly conduct of its affairs and the management of its property, for determining the manner of calling and conducting its meetings, the tenure of office of its several officers; and such others as shall be necessary or convenient for the accomplishment of its purpose.

(6)  To act as trustee, personal representative, registrar of stocks and bonds, custodian, agent, guardian of the estate or guardian of the person of any individual subject to guardianship, assignee, receiver, and in any other fiduciary capacity authorized by the division, subject to all of the following conditions:

(a) A trust company bank appointed by a court to act in a capacity described in this subsection shall not be required to make and file any oath or give any bond or security, except in the discretion of the court making the appointment or having jurisdiction over the matter.

(b) The accounts of a trust company bank appointed by a court to act in a capacity described in this subsection shall be regularly settled and adjusted by the proper officers or tribunals, and all legal and customary charges, costs, and expenses shall be allowed to the trust company bank for the care and management of the estate committed to it.

(c) In all cases in which application is made to a court for the appointment of a person to act in a capacity described in this subsection, it shall be lawful to appoint a trust company bank, with its consent, to hold the office or offices.

(7)  To act generally as agent or attorney for the transaction of business, the management of estates, the collection of rents, interests, dividends, mortgages, bonds, bills, notes, and other securities or moneys, to act as agent also for the purpose of issuing, negotiating, registering, transferring, or countersigning certificates of stock, bonds, or other obligations of any corporation, association, or municipality, and to manage any sinking fund or debt service fund therefor, on such terms as may be agreed upon.

(13)  To lease, purchase, hold, and convey any land that may be necessary to carry on its business, and to execute any trust committed to it, as well as any real or personal estate that the trust company bank may consider necessary to acquire in the enforcement or settlement of any claims or demands arising out of its business transactions.

(13m)  To execute and issue in the transaction of its business all necessary receipts, certificates, and contracts, which shall be signed by the person designated by its bylaws.

(14)  To establish and maintain a branch trust company bank to the same extent and in the same manner that a state bank may establish and maintain a branch bank under s. 221.0302 .

1973 c. 291 ; 1975 c. 94 ; 1983 a. 207 ; 1991 a. 74 , 316 ; 1995 a. 27 , 226 , 336 ; 2001 a. 102 ; 2005 a. 387 .