Nevada Code § 163.556

Circumstances under which trustee is authorized to appoint property of one testamentary trust or irrevocable trust to another trust
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1. Except as otherwise provided in this
section, unless the terms of a testamentary instrument or irrevocable trust
provide otherwise, a trustee with discretion or authority to distribute trust
income or principal to or for a beneficiary of the trust, whether acting in the
trustees own discretion or at the direction or with the consent of another
party pursuant to the terms of the trust instrument, may exercise such
discretion or authority by appointing the property subject to such discretion
or authority in favor of a second trust as provided in this section.
2. The second trust to which a trustee
appoints property of the original trust may only have as beneficiaries one or
more of the beneficiaries of the original trust:
(a) To or for whom a distribution of income or
principal may be made from the original trust;
(b) To or for whom a distribution of income or
principal may be made in the future from the original trust at a time or upon
the happening of an event specified under the original trust; or
(c) Both paragraphs (a) and (b).
For purposes
of this subsection, a permissible appointee of a power of appointment exercised
by a beneficiary of the second trust is not considered a beneficiary of the
second trust.
3. A trustee may not appoint property of
the original trust to a second trust if:
(a) Appointing the property will reduce any
income interest of any income beneficiary of the original trust if the original
trust is:
(1) A trust for which a marital deduction
has been taken for federal or state income, gift or estate tax purposes;
(2) A trust for which a charitable
deduction has been taken for federal or state income, gift or estate tax
purposes; or
(3) A grantor-retained annuity trust or
unitrust under 26 C.F.R. 25.2702-3(b) and (c).
As used in
this paragraph, unitrust has the meaning ascribed to it in NRS 164.700 .
(b) The property to be appointed is subject to a
power of withdrawal which is held by a beneficiary of the original trust and
may be executed at the time of the proposed appointment, unless after the
exercise of such appointment, the beneficiary of the original trusts power of
withdrawal is unchanged with respect to the trust property.
(c) A contribution made to the original trust
qualified for a gift tax exclusion as described in section 2503(b) of the
Internal Revenue Code, 26 U.S.C. 2503(b), by reason of the application of section
2503(c) of the Internal Revenue Code, 26 U.S.C. 2503(c), unless the second
trust provides that the beneficiarys remainder interest must vest not later
than the date upon which such interest would have vested under the terms of the
original trust.
4. A trustee who is a beneficiary of the
original trust may not exercise the authority to appoint property of the
original trust to a second trust if:
(a) Under the terms of the original trust or
pursuant to law governing the administration of the original trust:
(1) The trustee does not have discretion
to make distributions to himself or herself;
(2) The trustees discretion to make
distributions to himself or herself is limited by an ascertainable standard,
and under the terms of the second trust, the trustees discretion to make
distributions to himself or herself is not limited by the same ascertainable
standard; or
(3) The trustees discretion to make
distributions to himself or herself can only be exercised with the consent of a
cotrustee or a person holding an adverse interest and under the terms of the
second trust the trustees discretion to make distributions to himself or
herself is not limited by an ascertainable standard and may be exercised
without consent; or
(b) Under the terms of the original trust or
pursuant to law governing the administration of the original trust, the trustee
of the original trust does not have discretion to make distributions that will
discharge the trustees legal support obligations but under the second trust the
trustees discretion is not limited.
5. Notwithstanding the provisions of
subsection 1, a trustee who may be removed by the beneficiary or beneficiaries
of the original trust and replaced with a trustee that is related to or
subordinate, as described in section 672 of the Internal Revenue Code, 26
U.S.C. 672(c), to a beneficiary, may not exercise the authority to appoint
property of the original trust to a second trust to the extent that the
exercise of the authority by such trustee would have the effect of increasing
the distributions that can be made from the second trust to such beneficiary or
group of beneficiaries that held the power to remove the trustee of the
original trust and replace such trustee with a related or subordinate person,
unless the distributions that may be made from the second trust to such
beneficiary or group of beneficiaries described in paragraph (a) of subsection
4 are limited by an ascertainable standard.
6. The provisions of subsections 4 and 5
do not prohibit a trustee who is not a beneficiary of the original trust or who
may not be removed by the beneficiary or beneficiaries and replaced with a
trustee that is related to or subordinate to a beneficiary from exercising the
authority to appoint property of the original trust to a second trust pursuant
to the provisions of subsection 1.
7. Before appointing property pursuant to
subsection 1, a trustee may give notice of a proposed action pursuant to NRS 164.725 or may petition a court for
approval pursuant to NRS 153.031 , 164.015 or 164.725 . Any notice of a proposed action or
a petition for a courts approval must include the trustees opinion of how the
appointment of property will affect the trustees compensation and the
administration of other trust expenses.
8. The trust instrument of the second
trust may:
(a) Grant a general or limited power of
appointment to one or more of the beneficiaries of the second trust who are
beneficiaries of the original trust.
(b) Provide that, at a time or occurrence of an
event specified in the trust instrument, the remaining trust assets in the
second trust must be held for the beneficiaries of the original trust upon
terms and conditions that are substantially identical to the terms and
conditions of the original trust.
9. The power to appoint the property of
the original trust pursuant to subsection 1 must be exercised by a writing,
signed by the trustee and filed with the records of the trust.
10. The exercise of the power to invade
principal of the original trust pursuant to subsection 1 is considered the
exercise of a power of appointment, other than power to appoint the property to
the trustee, the trustees creditors, the trustees estate or the creditors of
the trustees estate and the provisions of NRS
111.1031 apply to such power of appointment.
11. The provisions of this section do not
abridge the right of any trustee who has the power to appoint property which
arises under any other law or under the terms of the original trust.
12. The provisions of this section do not
impose upon a trustee a duty to exercise the power to appoint property pursuant
to subsection 1.
13. The power to appoint property to
another trust pursuant to subsection 1 is not a power to amend the trust and a
trustee is not prohibited from appointing property to another trust pursuant to
subsection 1 if the original trust is irrevocable or provides that it may not
be amended.
14. A trustees power to appoint property
to another trust pursuant to subsection 1 is not limited by the existence of a
spendthrift provision in the original trust.
15. A trustee exercising any power granted
pursuant to this section may designate himself or herself or any other person
permitted to act as a trustee as the trustee of the second trust.
16. The trustee of a second trust,
resulting from the exercise of the power to appoint property to another trust
pursuant to subsection 1, may also exercise the powers granted pursuant to this
section with respect to the second trust.
17. Except as otherwise provided under the
terms of the trust, the power of a trustee to appoint property to another trust
is in addition to any other powers conferred by the terms of the trust or under
the laws of this State. This section does not expand, restrict, eliminate or
otherwise alter any power that, with respect to a trust, a person holds in a
nonfiduciary capacity.
18. The power of a trustee to appoint
property to another trust is an administrative act under this section and,
therefore, regardless of whether a trust applies the laws of this State for
construction or validity issues, this section applies to a trust that is
governed by, sitused in or administered under the laws of this State, whether
the trust is initially governed by, sitused in or administered under the laws
of this State pursuant to the terms of the trust instrument or whether the
governing law, situs or administration of the trust is moved to this State from
another state or foreign jurisdiction.
19. The power to appoint property to a
second trust pursuant to this section may be exercised to appoint property to a
second trust that is a special needs trust, pooled trust or third-party trust.
20. As used in this section:
(a) Ascertainable standard means a standard
relating to a persons health, education, support or maintenance within the
meaning of section 2041(b)(1)(A) or 2514(c)(1) of the Internal Revenue Code, 26
U.S.C. 2041(b)(1)(A) or 2514(c)(1), and any regulations of the United States
Treasury promulgated thereunder.
(b) Pooled trust means a trust described in 42
U.S.C. 1396p(d)(4)(C) that meets the requirements for such a trust under any
law or regulation of this State relating to the treatment of trusts for
purposes of eligibility for Medicaid or other needs-based public assistance.
(c) Second trust means an irrevocable trust
that receives trust income or principal appointed by the trustee of the
original trust, and may be established by any person, including, without limitation,
a new trust created by the trustee, acting in that capacity, of the original
trust. If the trustee of the original trust establishes the second trust, then
for purposes of creating the new second trust, the requirement of NRS 163.008 that the instrument be signed
by the settlor shall be deemed to be satisfied by the signature of the trustee
of the original trust. The second trust may be a trust created under the
original trust instrument, as modified after an appointment of property made
pursuant to this section, or a different trust instrument. If the second trust
is created under the original trust instrument, as modified after an
appointment of property made pursuant to this section, and is therefore the
modified original trust, a trustee may exercise the power to appoint the trust
property from the original trust to the second trust without an actual
distribution of the property subject to the appointment.
(d) Special needs trust means a trust under 42
U.S.C. 1396p(d)(4)(A) that meets the requirements for such a trust under any
law or regulation of this State relating to the treatment of trusts for
purposes of eligibility for Medicaid or other needs-based public assistance.
(e) Third-party trust means a trust that is:
(1) Established by a third party with the
assets of the third party to provide for the supplemental needs of a person who
is eligible for needs-based public assistance at or after the time of the
creation of the trust; and
(2) Exempt from the provisions of any law
or regulation of this State relating to the treatment of trusts for purposes of
eligibility for Medicaid.

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