What it means
One or more shareholders may sign a voting trust agreement and transfer their shares to a trustee, who then holds the shares and votes them on the terms the agreement sets. The trust becomes effective the day the first shares are registered in the trustee's name.
The trustee must prepare a list of the beneficial owners — names, addresses, number and class of shares — and deliver the list and the agreement to the corporation's principal office, where they are open to inspection. The current section sets no maximum duration for a voting trust.
- Created by a signed agreement plus transfer of shares to a trustee, who votes them (§607.0730(1)).
- Effective when the first shares are registered in the trustee's name (§607.0730(2)).
- The beneficial-owner list and the agreement go to the corporation's principal office, open to inspection.
- No fixed statutory duration — the section imposes no time limit on a voting trust.
How it plays out
Voting trusts show up in estates that hold family-corporation stock spread across branches. Moving the shares to one trustee keeps the family voting as a single block through a probate, a minority holder's death, or a generation change — succession runs on the trust agreement, not on who inherits fastest. When we administer an estate whose shares sit in a voting trust, the personal representative deals with the trustee on the agreement's terms; the estate holds the beneficial interest, not the vote.
Where this shows up
Pages on this site where § 607.0730 does real work:
Questions people ask
