R.I. Gen. Laws § 19-3.1-3
A financial institution subject to this chapter shall also have power to accept and execute all of these trusts, and to hold in trust all property, of every description, as may be committed to it by any person or persons, or by any corporation, or by any court of this state or of the United States; and also to accept and execute the office and appointment of executors, administrators, custodians, conservators, guardians of estates, assignees, or receivers of any kind or nature whatever, whether that office or appointment be conferred or made by any person or persons, or by any court of probate or other court; and any court of probate in this state is hereby empowered, in its discretion, to appoint the financial institution as executor, administrator, custodian, conservator and guardian of the estate of any person within its jurisdiction, subject however, to the provisions of § 33-8-8, and provided, that the financial institution may, upon the petition of the surviving spouse, be appointed administrator or custodian upon the estate of a spouse dying intestate; provided, further, that the financial institution shall not be authorized to act in any of the foregoing offices until its acceptance in writing of the appointment shall be filed and recorded in the probate court in which the appointment shall be made.
R.I. Gen. Laws § 19-3.1-3