Trusts 4/ trust modification Flashcards
(42 cards)
A discretionary trust is not used when assigning claims in a
divorce (when dividing the mental estate)
Under HEMS if needed money for credit cards or a wedding
would prolly give the money
When a trust has best interests and HEMS in the trust
can have a trustee for each
A cotrustee when they are given different powers in the trust is not
liable for the other trustee actions
Material Purpose Doctrine
An active trust may not be terminated, even with the consent of all the beneficaries, if a material purpose of the settlor remains to be accomplished
How courts figure out material purpose
look at the words of the trust
6 Motivations for trust modifications
- modernizing distribution standards
- revising trustee succession
- adding directed trust provisions
- removing investment provisions
- granting powers of appointomwnt
- combining multiple trusts
Judicial modification
- petition to change filed to court requesting changes
- requires notice to all beneficiaries and disclosure of the trust
trust modification
Non-judicial settlemet agreement
- trustee and beneficiaries agree to modify certain provisions of the trust
- generally used to resolve issues of the trust administration
Modification by consent
settlor, trustee, and beneficaries agree to modify the trust
trust modification
Fiduciary restructuring
If the trust allows the grantor to replace trustees, then the grantor can reformat all fiduciary roles to create either a traditional directed trust structure or bifuracuate trustee duties among seperate trustees
The material purpose doctrine prevents a court from
modifying an irrevocable trust unless all the beneficiaries consent and all the settlors material purpose has been satisfied
Over time, courts have determined that certain trust conditions are, in and of themselves, a material purpose. For example, 4 limitations have traditionally prohibited a trusts early termination
- a spendthrift trust
- discretionary distribution terms
- language indicating that the trust is for the beneficiaries continued support, or
- age requirements
trust modification
Equitable or administrative deviation
allows for modification based on changed circumstances
UTC 412 Mod or term bc of unantic cric or inabl to admins trust effectiv
THe court may modify the adminstrative or depositive terms of a trust if,
because of circumstances not anticipated by the settlor, modification or termination will further the purposes of the trust. To the extent practiable, the modification must be made
UTC 412 Mod or term bc of unantic cric or inabl to admins trust effectiv
The court may modifiy the administrative terms of a trust if continuation of the trust on its existing terms would be
impracticable or wasteful or impair the trusts administration
UTC 412 Mod or term bc of unantic cric or inabl to admins trust effectiv
Upon termination of a trust under this section the trustee shall
distribute the trust property in a manner consistent with the purposes of the trust
UTC 414 Modification or termination of uneconomic trust
After notice to the qualified beneficiaries
the trustee of a trust consisting of trust property having a total value less then (50k) may terminate the trust if the trusteee concludes that the value of the trust property is insufficient to justify the cost of administration
UTC 414 Modification or termination of uneconomic trust
THe court may modify or terminate the trust or remove the trustee and appoint a different trustee if it determines that the
value of the trust property is insufficent to justify the cost of adminstration
UTC 414 Modification or termination of uneconomic trust
Upon termination of a trust under this section, the trustee shall
distribute the trust property in a manner consistant with the purposes of the trust
UTC 415 Reformation to correct a mistake
The court may reform the terms of the trust, even if unambiguous, to conform the terms to the settlors intention if it is proved by cleat and convincing evidence
what the settlors intention was and that the terms of the trust were affected by a mistake of fact or law, whether in expression or inducement
UTC 416 Modification to achieve settlots tax objections
To achieve the settlors tac objectives, the court may modify the terms of the trust in a manner
That is not contrary to the settlors probable intention, the court may provide that the modification has a retroactive effect
Trust decanting involves
a trustee pouring “decanting” assets from one trust into another
When a trustee can take advantage of an exemption in the Generation Skipping Tax
If trustee can extend the suration of trsts created before a certain date