§§ 456.1-103, RSMo

Current with changes from the 2024 Legislative Session

Section 456.1-103 - Definitions

In sections 456.1-101 to 456.11-1106, the following terms shall mean:

(1)"Action", with respect to an act of a trustee, includes a failure to act;

(2)"Ascertainable standard", a standard relating to an individual's health, education, support, or maintenance within the meaning of Section 2041(b)(1)(A) or Section 2541(c)(1) of the Internal Revenue Code;

(3)"Beneficiary", a person that:

(a) Has a present or future beneficial interest in a trust, vested or contingent; or

(b) In a capacity other than that of trustee, holds a power of appointment over trust property;

(4)"Charitable trust", a trust, or portion of a trust, created for a charitable purpose described in subsection 1 of section 456.4-405;

(5)"Conservator", a person described in subdivision (3) of section 475.010. This term does not include a conservator ad litem;

(6)"Conservator ad litem", a person appointed by the court pursuant to the provisions of section 475.097;

(7)"Directed trust", any trust, including a split interest trust, in which the trust instrument:

(a) Authorizes a trust protector to instruct or direct the trustee;

(b) Charges a trust protector with any responsibilities regarding the trust;

(c) Grants the trust protector one or more powers over the trust; or

(d) Directs one or more powers over the trust to a person, who is not serving as a trustee, and is not a settlor or a beneficiary;

(8)"Environmental law", a federal, state, or local law, rule, regulation, or ordinance relating to protection of the environment;

(9)"Financial institution", a non-foreign bank, savings and loan or trust company chartered, regulated and supervised by the Missouri division of finance, the office of the comptroller of the currency, the office of thrift supervision, the National Credit Union Administration, or the Missouri division of credit union supervision. The term "non-foreign bank" shall mean a bank that is not a foreign bank within the meaning of subdivision (1) of section 361.005;

(10)"Guardian", a person described in subdivision (8) of section 475.010. The term does not include a guardian ad litem;

(11)"Interested persons", include beneficiaries and any others having a property right in or claim against a trust estate which may be affected by a judicial proceeding. It also includes fiduciaries and other persons representing interested persons. The meaning as it relates to particular persons may vary from time to time and must be determined according to the particular purposes of, and matter involved in, any proceeding;

(12)"Interests of the beneficiaries", the beneficial interests provided in the terms of the trust;

(13)"Internal Revenue Code", the United States Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as in effect on January 1, 2005, or as later amended;

(14)"Jurisdiction", with respect to a geographic area, includes a state or country;

(15)"Person", an individual, corporation, business trust, estate, trust, partnership, limited liability company, association, joint venture, government; governmental subdivision, agency, or instrumentality; public corporation, or any other legal or commercial entity;

(16)"Permissible distributee", a beneficiary who is currently eligible to receive distributions of trust income or principal, whether mandatory or discretionary;

(17)"Power of withdrawal", a presently exercisable power of a beneficiary to withdraw assets from the trust without the consent of the trustee or any other person;

(18)"Principal place of administration", of a trust is the trustee's usual place of business where the records pertaining to the trust are kept, or the trustee's residence if the trustee has no such place of business, unless otherwise designated by the terms of the trust as provided in section 456.1-108. In the case of cotrustees, the principal place of administration is, in the following order of priority:

(a) The usual place of business of the corporate trustee if there is but one corporate cotrustee;

(b) The usual place of business or residence of the trustee who is a professional fiduciary if there is but one such trustee and no corporate cotrustee; or

(c) The usual place of business or residence of any of the cotrustees;

(19)"Professional fiduciary", an individual who represents himself or herself to the public as having specialized training, experience or skills in the administration of trusts;

(20)"Property", anything that may be the subject of ownership, whether real or personal, legal or equitable, or any interest therein;

(21)"Qualified beneficiary", a beneficiary who, on the date the beneficiary's qualification is determined:

(a) Is a permissible distributee;

(b) Would be a permissible distributee if the interests of the permissible distributees described in paragraph (a) of this subdivision terminated on that date; or

(c) Would be a permissible distributee if the trust terminated on that date;

(22)"Record", information that is inscribed on a tangible medium or that is stored in an electronic or other medium and is retrievable in perceivable form;

(23)"Revocable", as applied to a trust, means that the settlor has the legal power to revoke the trust without the consent of the trustee or a person holding an adverse interest, regardless of whether the settlor has the mental capacity to do so in fact;

(24)"Settlor", a person, including a testator, who creates, or contributes property to, a trust. If more than one person creates or contributes property to a trust, each person is a settlor of the portion of the trust property attributable to that person's contribution except to the extent another person has the power to revoke or withdraw that portion pursuant to the terms of the trust;

(25)"Sign", with present intent to authenticate or adopt a record:

(a) To execute or adopt a tangible symbol; or

(b) To attach to or logically associate with the record an electronic sound, symbol, or process;

(26)"Spendthrift provision", a term of a trust which restrains either the voluntary or involuntary transfer or both the voluntary and involuntary transfer of a beneficiary's interest;

(27)"State", a state of the United States, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the United States Virgin Islands, or any territory or insular possession subject to the jurisdiction of the United States. The term includes an Indian tribe or band recognized by federal law or formally acknowledged by a state;

(28)"Terms of a trust", the manifestation of the settlor's intent regarding a trust's provisions as expressed in the trust instrument or as may be established by other evidence that would be admissible in a judicial proceeding;

(29)"Trust instrument", an instrument executed by the settlor that contains terms of the trust, including any amendments thereto;

(30)"Trust protector", any person, group of persons, or entity not serving as a trustee and not the settlor or a beneficiary, designated in a trust instrument to instruct or direct the trustee or charged in the trust instrument with any responsibilities regarding the trust or expressly granted in the trust instrument one or more powers over the trust. The term trust protector includes, but is not limited to, persons or entities identified in the trust instrument as trust advisors, trust directors, distribution advisors, or investment advisors;

(31)"Trustee", includes an original, additional, and successor trustee, and a cotrustee.

§§ 456.1-103, RSMo

Amended by 2018 Mo. Laws, HB 1250,s A, eff. 8/28/2018.

L. 2004H.B. 1511 , A.L. 2006S.B. 892