UNIFORM TRUST DECANTING ACT drafted by the NATIONAL CONFERENCE OF COMMISSIONERS ON UNIFORM STATE LAWS and by it APPROVED AND RECOMMENDED FOR ENACTMENT IN ALL THE STATES at its ANNUAL CONFERENCE MEETING IN ITS ONE-HUNDRED-AND-TWENTY-FOURTH YEAR WILLIAMSBURG, VIRGINIA JULY 10 - JULY 16, 2015 WITH PREFATORY NOTE AND COMMENTS Copyright © 2015 By NATIONAL CONFERENCE OF COMMISSIONERS ON UNIFORM STATE LAWS May 17, 2018 ABOUT ULC The Uniform Law Commission (ULC), also known as National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws (NCCUSL), now in its 124th year, provides states with non-partisan, well-conceived and well-drafted legislation that brings clarity and stability to critical areas of state statutory law. ULC members must be lawyers, qualified to practice law. They are practicing lawyers, judges, legislators and legislative staff and law professors, who have been appointed by state governments as well as the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands to research, draft and promote enactment of uniform state laws in areas of state law where uniformity is desirable and practical. • ULC strengthens the federal system by providing rules and procedures that are consistent from state to state but that also reflect the diverse experience of the states. • ULC statutes are representative of state experience, because the organization is made up of representatives from each state, appointed by state government. • ULC keeps state law up-to-date by addressing important and timely legal issues. • ULC’s efforts reduce the need for individuals and businesses to deal with different laws as they move and do business in different states. • ULC’s work facilitates economic development and provides a legal platform for foreign entities to deal with U.S. citizens and businesses. • Uniform Law Commissioners donate thousands of hours of their time and legal and drafting expertise every year as a public service, and receive no salary or compensation for their work. • ULC’s deliberative and uniquely open drafting process draws on the expertise of commissioners, but also utilizes input from legal experts, and advisors and observers representing the views of other legal organizations or interests that will be subject to the proposed laws. • ULC is a state-supported organization that represents true value for the states, providing services that most states could not otherwise afford or duplicate. UNIFORM TRUST DECANTING ACT The Committee appointed by and representing the National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws in preparing this Act consists of the following individuals: STANLEY C. KENT, 90 S. Cascade Ave., Suite 1210, Colorado Springs, CO 80903, Chair MARY M. ACKERLY, 782 Bantam Rd., P.O. Box 815, Bantam, CT 06750-0815 TURNEY P. BERRY, 500 W. Jefferson St., Suite 2800, Louisville, KY 40202 DAVID J. CLARK, 353 Bel Marin Keys Blvd., Suite 1, Novato, CA 94949 DAVID M. ENGLISH, University of Missouri-Columbia School of Law, 203 Hulston Hall, Columbia, MO 65211 MARC S. FEINSTEIN, 431 N. Phillips Ave., Suite 301, Sioux Falls, SD 57104 BRADLEY MYERS, University of North Dakota School of Law, 215 Centennial Dr., Room 201, Stop 9003, Grand Forks, ND 58202-9003 MARK H. RAMSEY, P.O. Box 309, Claremore, OK 74018-0309 ROBERT H. SITKOFF, Harvard Law School, 1575 Massachusetts Ave., Cambridge, MA 02138 SUZANNE BROWN WALSH, 185 Asylum St., CityPlace I, 29th Floor, Hartford, CT 06103- 3469 SUSAN T. BART, 1 S. Dearborn St., Chicago, IL 60603, Reporter EX OFFICIO HARRIET LANSING, 1 Heather Pl., St. Paul, MN 55102-3017, President ELISA WHITE, 419 Natural Resources Dr., Little Rock, AR 72205, Division Chair AMERICAN BAR ASSOCIATION ADVISORS AMY HELLER, 340 Madison Ave., Floor 17, New York, NY 10173-1922, ABA Advisor EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR LIZA KARSAI, 111 N. Wabash Ave., Suite 1010, Chicago, IL 60602, Executive Director Copies of this act may be obtained from: NATIONAL CONFERENCE OF COMMISSIONERS ON UNIFORM STATE LAWS 111 N. Wabash Ave., Suite 1010 Chicago, Illinois 60602 312/450-6600 www.uniformlaws.org UNIFORM TRUST DECANTING ACT TABLE OF CONTENTS Prefatory Note ................................................................................................................................. 1 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. ....................................................................................................... 6 SECTION 2. DEFINITIONS. ........................................................................................................ 6 SECTION 3. SCOPE. .................................................................................................................. 18 SECTION 4. FIDUCIARY DUTY. ............................................................................................. 20 SECTION 5. APPLICATION; GOVERNING LAW. ................................................................ 23 SECTION 6. REASONABLE RELIANCE. ............................................................................... 24 SECTION 7. NOTICE; EXERCISE OF DECANTING POWER. ............................................. 25 [SECTION 8. REPRESENTATION.] ......................................................................................... 29 SECTION 9. COURT INVOLVEMENT. ................................................................................... 30 SECTION 10. FORMALITIES. .................................................................................................. 34 SECTION 11. DECANTING POWER UNDER EXPANDED DISTRIBUTIVE DISCRETION. .................................................................................................................. 34 SECTION 12. DECANTING POWER UNDER LIMITED DISTRIBUTIVE DISCRETION. 42 SECTION 13. TRUST FOR BENEFICIARY WITH DISABILITY. ......................................... 45 SECTION 14. PROTECTION OF CHARITABLE INTEREST. ............................................... 49 SECTION 15. TRUST LIMITATION ON DECANTING. ........................................................ 55 SECTION 16. CHANGE IN COMPENSATION. ...................................................................... 56 SECTION 17. RELIEF FROM LIABILITY AND INDEMNIFICATION. ............................... 58 SECTION 18. REMOVAL OR REPLACEMENT OF AUTHORIZED FIDUCIARY.............. 59 SECTION 19. TAX-RELATED LIMITATIONS. ...................................................................... 61 SECTION 20. DURATION OF SECOND TRUST. ................................................................... 70 SECTION 21. NEED TO DISTRIBUTE NOT REQUIRED. ..................................................... 72 SECTION 22. SAVING PROVISION. ....................................................................................... 72 SECTION 23. TRUST FOR CARE OF ANIMAL. .................................................................... 74 SECTION 24. TERMS OF SECOND TRUST. .......................................................................... 77 SECTION 25. SETTLOR. ........................................................................................................... 77 SECTION 26. LATER-DISCOVERED PROPERTY. ................................................................ 78 SECTION 27. OBLIGATIONS. .................................................................................................. 80 SECTION 28. UNIFORMITY OF APPLICATION AND CONSTRUCTION. ......................... 81 SECTION 29. RELATION TO ELECTRONIC SIGNATURES IN GLOBAL AND NATIONAL COMMERCE ACT. .................................................................................... 81 [SECTION 30. SEVERABILITY.] ............................................................................................. 82 SECTION 31. REPEALS; CONFORMING AMENDMENTS. ................................................. 82 SECTION 32. EFFECTIVE DATE. ............................................................................................ 82 UNIFORM TRUST DECANTING ACT Prefatory Note The Uniform Trust Decanting Act is promulgated in the midst of a rising tide of state decanting statutes. These statutes represent one of several recent innovations in trust law that seek to make trusts more flexible so that the settlor’s material purposes can best be carried out under current circumstances. A decanting statute provides flexibility by statutorily expanding discretion already granted to the trustee to permit the trustee to modify the trust either directly or by distributing its assets to another trust. While some trusts expressly grant the trustee or another person a power to modify or decant the trust, a statutory provision can better describe the power granted, impose limits on the power to protect the beneficiaries and the settlor’s intent, protect against inadvertent tax consequences, provide procedural rules for exercising the power and provide for appropriate remedies. While decanting may be permitted in some situations under common law in some states, in many states it is unclear whether common law decanting is permitted, and if it is, the circumstances in which it is permitted and the parameters within which it may be exercised. Need for Uniformity. Trusts may be governed by the laws of different states for purposes of validity, meaning and effect, and administration. The place of administration of a trust may move from state to state. It often may be difficult to determine the state in which a trust is administered if a trust has co-trustees domiciled in different states or has a corporate trustee that performs different trust functions in different states. As a result it may