(a) When used in this chapter, unless the context otherwise requires, the following terms shall have the meanings respectively ascribed to them by this section:

(1) WAR SERVICE. Such term shall include the following, during the period that the United States shall be engaged in war with any foreign nation:

a. Active membership in the military, naval or air forces of the United States or any of its allies.

b. Acceptance for membership in the military, naval or air forces of the United States or any of its allies and awaiting induction into that service.

c. Participation in any work abroad in connection with a governmental agency of the United States, with the American Red Cross, or with any other similar service.

d. Internment in any enemy country, or absence from the United States and inability to return.

e. Any service at home or abroad arising out of or in connection with the war, which in the opinion of the court prevents the fiduciary from giving the proper attention to his duties.

(2) FIDUCIARY. A trustee of a testamentary trust or of any express trust, a guardian of the estate of a minor, a guardian, committee or conservator of the estate of an incompetent person, an executor of a will, an administrator of the estate of a decedent or an advisor or consultant exercising control over a testamentary or express trust.

(b) Words importing the masculine gender, as used herein, include the feminine.

Any fiduciary engaged in war service may be removed from his office as such upon petition filed in the proper court having jurisdiction by any person interested in the trust fund or the estate being administered or by any co-fiduciary or surety, and if the trust has not been fully executed or the administration of the estate has not been fully completed, the court, upon such removal, must appoint a successor fiduciary to fill the vacancy caused by such removal if there is no trust instrument providing a practicable method of appointment. If the court shall find that, because of the military service of the fiduciary, the stating of an account at that time is not possible, an accounting by such fiduciary in military service shall not be a prerequisite to the appointment of a successor fiduciary, and upon the reinstatement of such fiduciary or at such time as the said court deems meet, such fiduciary may be required by said court to file an accounting of his administration of the trust fund.

If any fiduciary in war service be removed from office and is a competent and suitable person to again serve as such fiduciary at any time after the termination of his war service, the fiduciary appointed to fill the vacancy caused by such removal, or his successor, shall be removed from office by the court upon petition filed by the former fiduciary in war service so removed or by any person interested in the trust fund or the estate being administered or by any co-fiduciary, and if the trust has not been fully executed or the administration of the estate has not been fully completed the court, upon such removal, shall appoint the fiduciary theretofore removed because of his war service to fill the vacancy caused by the removal of his successor in office if there is no trust instrument providing a practicable method of appointment.

Notice of any petition to remove a fiduciary in war service and the day appointed to hear the same must be given to him by the register or clerk by registered or certified mail, postage prepaid, addressed to him at his post-office address, if known, or by publication once a week for four consecutive weeks in some newspaper published in the county, and if no newspaper is published in the county by posting at the courthouse door and three other public places in the county. If said fiduciary does not personally appear therein, or is not represented by an authorized attorney, the court may appoint an attorney to represent him and a reasonable fee, to be taxed as a part of the costs of such proceedings, may be allowed to said attorney so appointed. Notice of said petition and the time appointed to hear the same must be given by the register or clerk to all other parties interested in the trust fund or the estate being administered, other than creditors, in the manner and as required by the Alabama Rules of Civil Procedure. Notice of any petition filed under the provisions of Section 19-2-3 must be given by the register or clerk to all parties interested in the trust fund or estate being administered, other than creditors, in the manner and as required by the Alabama Rules of Civil Procedure.

Unless exempted from so doing by law or trust instrument every fiduciary appointed by the court must give bond, before entering upon the discharge of his duties, in the amount and conditioned and payable as required by the law applicable to his fiduciary office.