Title 14 — Trusts, Estates and Protective Proceedings

In the absence of a requirement that a power of appointment be exercised by a reference or by an express or specific reference to that power, a general residuary clause in a will or a will making general disposition of all of the testator's property expresses an intention to exer…

A. Property a testator gave to a person while the testator was alive is treated as a satisfaction of a devise in whole or in part if any of the following requirements are met: 1. The will provides for deduction of the gift. 2. The testator declared in a contemporaneous writing th…

In the absence of a finding of a contrary intention, the rules of construction in this article control the construction of a governing instrument. The rules of construction in this article apply to a governing instrument of any type, except as the application of a particular sect…

A. For the purposes of this article, except as provided in subsection D of this section, a person who is not established by clear and convincing evidence to have survived an event, including the death of another person, by one hundred twenty hours is deemed to have predeceased th…

The meaning and legal effect of a governing instrument is determined by the local law of the state selected in the governing instrument unless the application of that law is contrary to the requirements of article 4 of this chapter relating to exempt property and allowances or is…

If a governing instrument that creates a power of appointment expressly requires that the power be exercised by a reference, an express reference or a specific reference to the power or its source, it is presumed that the donor's intention was to prevent an inadvertent exercise o…

A. A person who is adopted or born out of wedlock and that person's descendants, if appropriate to the class, are included in class gifts and other terms of relationship in accordance with the intestate succession under article 1 of this chapter. Terms of relationship that do not…

A. If a beneficiary fails to survive the decedent and is a grandparent, a descendant of a grandparent or a stepchild of the decedent, the following apply: 1. Except as provided in paragraph 4 of this subsection, if the beneficiary designation is not in the form of a class gift an…

A. A future interest under the terms of a trust is contingent on the beneficiary surviving the distribution date. If a beneficiary of a future interest under the terms of a trust fails to survive the distribution date, the following apply: 1. Except as provided in subsection C of…

If a class gift in favor of descendants, issue or heirs of the body does not specify the manner in which the property is to be distributed among the family members who comprise that class, the property that comprises the class gift is distributed among the class members who are l…

A. If an applicable statute or a governing instrument calls for property to be distributed by representation or per capita at each generation, the property is divided into as many equal shares as there are surviving descendants in the generation nearest to the designated ancestor…

The common law doctrine of worthier title is not recognized in this state. Therefore, language in a governing instrument that describes the beneficiaries of a disposition as the transferor's heirs, heirs at law, next of kin, distributees, relatives, or family, or by similar langu…

A. If an applicable statute or a governing instrument calls for a present or future distribution to or creates a present or future interest in a designated individual's heirs, heirs at law, next of kin, relatives, or family, or by similar language, the property passes to those pe…

A. A proponent of a governing instrument has the burden of establishing prima facie proof of due execution in all cases. B. It is a rebuttable presumption that a person who executes a governing instrument is presumed to have capacity to execute the governing instrument and to hav…

A. A person who is divorced from the decedent or whose marriage to the decedent has been annulled is not a surviving spouse unless, by virtue of a subsequent marriage, that person is married to the decedent at the time of death. A decree of separation that does not terminate the …

A. A person who feloniously and intentionally kills the decedent forfeits all benefits under this chapter with respect to the decedent's estate, including an intestate share, an elective share, an omitted spouse's or child's share, a homestead allowance, exempt property and a fam…

A. Except as provided by the express terms of a governing instrument, a court order or a contract relating to the division of the marital estate made between a divorced couple before or after the marriage, divorce or annulment, the divorce or annulment of a marriage: 1. Revokes a…

A. A nonvested property interest is invalid unless at least one of the following is true: 1. At the time the interest is created it is certain to vest or to terminate not later than twenty-one years after the death of a person who is then alive. 2. The interest either vests or te…

A. Except as provided in subsections B and C of this section and section 14-2905, subsection C, the time of creation of a nonvested property interest or a power of appointment is determined under general principles of property law. B. If there is a person who alone can exercise a…

On the petition of an interested person, a court shall reform a disposition in the manner that most closely approximates the transferor's manifested plan of distribution and that is within the five hundred years allowed under section 14-2901 if: 1. A nonvested property interest o…

This article does not apply to: 1. A nonvested property interest or a power of appointment arising out of a nondonative transfer, except for a nonvested property interest or a power of appointment arising out of any of the following: (a) A premarital or postmarital agreement. (b)…

A. Except as otherwise provided, this article applies to a nonvested property interest or a power of appointment that is created on or after December 31, 1994. B. If a nonvested property interest or a power of appointment is determined in a judicial proceeding to violate this sta…

This article applies notwithstanding common law rules against perpetuities or section 33-261.

A. If a trust is for a specific lawful noncharitable purpose or for lawful noncharitable purposes to be selected by the trustee and there is no definite or definitely ascertainable beneficiary designated, the trust may be performed by the trustee for not longer than ninety years …