(a)

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Terms Used In Tennessee Code 35-15-813

  • Beneficiary: A person who is entitled to receive the benefits or proceeds of a will, trust, insurance policy, retirement plan, annuity, or other contract. Source: OCC
  • Beneficiary: means a person that has a present or future beneficial interest in a trust, vested or contingent. See Tennessee Code 35-15-103
  • Excluded fiduciary: means any trustee, trust advisor, or trust protector to the extent that, under the terms of a trust, an agreement of the qualified beneficiaries, an exercise of the authority described in §. See Tennessee Code 35-15-103
  • Fiduciary: A trustee, executor, or administrator.
  • Fiduciary: means :
    (A) A trustee, conservator, guardian, agent under any agency agreement or other instrument, an executor, personal representative or administrator of a decedent's estate, or any other party, including a trust advisor or a trust protector, who is acting in a fiduciary capacity for any person, trust, or estate. See Tennessee Code 35-15-103
  • Person: means an individual. See Tennessee Code 35-15-103
  • Power of appointment: means :
    (A) An inter vivos or testamentary power to direct the disposition of trust property, other than a distribution decision made by a trustee or other fiduciary to a beneficiary. See Tennessee Code 35-15-103
  • Qualified beneficiary: means a beneficiary who, assuming the nonexercise of all powers of appointment and the nonoccurrence of any event not reasonably expected to occur, on the date the beneficiary's qualification is determined:
    (A) Is a distributee or permissible distributee of trust income or principal. See Tennessee Code 35-15-103
  • Remainder: An interest in property that takes effect in the future at a specified time or after the occurrence of some event, such as the death of a life tenant.
  • Representative: when applied to those who represent a decedent, includes executors and administrators, unless the context implies heirs and distributees. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
  • Settlor: means a person, including a testator, who creates, or contributes property to, a trust. See Tennessee Code 35-15-103
  • Trust advisor: means any person described in §. See Tennessee Code 35-15-103
  • Trust protector: means any person described in §. See Tennessee Code 35-15-103
  • Trustee: A person or institution holding and administering property in trust.
  • Trustee: includes an original, additional, and successor trustee, and a cotrustee. See Tennessee Code 35-15-103
  • written: includes printing, typewriting, engraving, lithography, and any other mode of representing words and letters. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
(1) A trustee shall keep the beneficiaries of the trust who are current mandatory or permissible distributees of trust income or principal, or both, reasonably informed about the administration of the trust and of the material facts necessary for them to protect their interests. If a trust is divided into separate shares for the sole benefit of a single beneficiary or a separate group of beneficiaries, the trustee‘s duty shall apply only to the beneficiary or beneficiaries of the separate share of the trust.
(2) Unless unreasonable under the circumstances, a trustee shall respond in a reasonable amount of time to a qualified beneficiary‘s request for information related to the administration of the trust. Additionally, a qualified beneficiary shall reimburse the trustee for any reasonable expenses incurred in responding to requests for information.
(3) The requirements of subdivisions (a)(1) and (2) shall also apply to the benefit of anyone who, in a capacity other than that of a fiduciary, as defined by § 35-15-103, holds a power of appointment.
(b)

(1) The trustee of an irrevocable or nongrantor trust within sixty (60) days after the acceptance and funding of a trust, excluding nominal funding for the trust to have corpus or the depositing of insurance policies on the life of a living person, shall notify each current income beneficiary, each vested ultimate beneficiary of a remainder interest and anyone who, in a capacity other than that of a fiduciary, as defined by § 35-15-103, holds a power of appointment, that the trust has been established.
(2) The required notice shall:

(A) Be sent by first class mail or personal delivery; and
(B) Consist of either a complete copy of the document establishing the trust together with the trustee’s name, address and telephone number or an abstract of the trust, whichever the trustee, in the trustee’s absolute discretion, may choose.
(3) The abstract shall contain:

(A) The name, address and telephone number of each trustee;
(B) If for a current income beneficiary:

(i) The number of other current income beneficiaries;
(ii) Whether distributions of income are required or discretionary;
(iii) Whether distributions of principal are permitted and, if so, for what purpose or purposes;
(iv) An estimate of the value of the trust at the date of the notice from which distributions may be made; and
(v) An estimate of the income that may be distributable to the beneficiary;
(C) If for a remainder beneficiary:

(i) The number of other remainder beneficiaries;
(ii) An estimate of the value of the trust at the date of the notice; and
(iii) The conditions which must be met before the beneficiary’s share is distributable; and
(D) If for anyone who, in a capacity other than that of a fiduciary, as defined by § 35-15-103, holds a power of appointment, all of the information required by subdivisions (b)(3)(A)-(C) necessary or beneficial for that person to effectively determine whether or not to exercise that power of appointment.
(c) Upon the termination of an interest of any one (1) or more of the current income beneficiaries:

(1) The trustee shall similarly notify the income beneficiaries who are takers of the terminated interest of their interest by sending or delivering them the notice required in subsection (b); and
(2) If at that time the period described in subsection (b) has lapsed, the trustee shall similarly notify anyone who, in a capacity other than that of a fiduciary, as defined by § 35-15-103, holds a power of appointment by sending or delivering to such person the notice required in subsection (b).
(d) A beneficiary may waive the right to a trustee’s report or other information otherwise required to be furnished under this section. A beneficiary, with respect to future reports and other information, may withdraw a waiver previously given. Anyone who, in a capacity other than that of a fiduciary, as defined by § 35-15-103, holds a power of appointment has the same power as provided a beneficiary in this subsection (d) to waive reports and other information and to withdraw a waiver previously given. During the time a beneficiary is represented by another pursuant to § 35-15-303, a trustee shall send its report or other information otherwise required to be furnished under this section to the representative of the beneficiary, which has the same effect as sending the report or other information otherwise required to be furnished under this section to the beneficiary being represented.
(e) Subsections (a) and (b) do not apply to the extent:

(1) That the terms of the trust provide otherwise; or
(2) The settlor of the trust, or a trust protector or trust advisor under part 12 of this chapter, that holds the power to so direct, directs otherwise in a writing delivered to the trustee. Directions made in a writing delivered to the trustee by the settlor, trust advisor, or trust protector as set forth in this subdivision (e)(2) remain in effect until and unless the settlor, trust advisor, or trust protector revokes the written instructions or is incapacitated. Additionally, the written directions remain in effect only while the trust advisor or trust protector providing the written directions is serving as the current trust advisor or trust protector. Unless otherwise specifically provided in the written directions, upon the death or incapacity of a settlor who provided the written directions described in this subdivision (e)(2), the directions are revoked. However, upon the death or incapacity of the settlor, a trust advisor or trust protector, if any, may further direct the trustee in writing pursuant to this subdivision (e)(2). Unless otherwise stated in the governing instrument, in the event of a conflict in the written directions, the written directions of the settlor control. Notwithstanding this subdivision (e)(2), during the time a settlor has designated a representative to represent and bind the interests of a beneficiary or beneficiaries under § 35-15-303, a trustee shall send its report or other information otherwise required to be furnished under this section to the representative designated by the settlor until the settlor revokes the designation or until the designated representative ceases serving. Sending reports or other information otherwise required to be furnished to a designated representative has the same effect as sending the report or other information otherwise required to be furnished under this section to the beneficiary or beneficiaries being represented. To the extent a settlor, trust advisor, or trust protector directs a trustee not to send its report or other information otherwise required to be furnished under this section to a beneficiary or beneficiaries and does not designate a representative to receive the information, the trustee shall send the information it would otherwise be required to send to the beneficiary or beneficiaries to the settlor, trust advisor, or trust protector, which has the same effect as sending the report or other information otherwise required to be furnished under this section to the beneficiary or beneficiaries.
(f) Subdivision (a)(1) and subsection (b) do not apply to a trust created under a trust agreement that became irrevocable before July 1, 2004. Trust law in effect prior to July 1, 2004, regarding the subject matter of subdivision (a)(1) and subsection (b) shall continue to apply to those trusts.
(g) If the trustee of a trust is bound by any written confidentiality restrictions with respect to an asset of a trust, a trustee may require that any beneficiary who is eligible to receive information pursuant to this or any other section of this title about such asset shall agree in writing to be bound by the confidentiality restrictions that bind the trustee before receiving such information from the trustee.
(h) A trust advisor, trust protector, or other fiduciary designated by the terms of the trust shall keep each excluded fiduciary designated by the terms of the trust reasonably informed about:

(1) The administration of the trust with respect to any specific duty or function being performed by the trust advisor, trust protector, or other fiduciary to the extent that the duty or function would normally be performed by the excluded fiduciary or to the extent that providing such information to the excluded fiduciary is reasonably necessary for the excluded fiduciary to perform its duties; and
(2) Any other material information that the excluded fiduciary would be required to disclose to the specified beneficiaries under subsection (a) regardless of whether the terms of the trust relieve the excluded fiduciary from providing such information to qualified beneficiaries. Neither the performance nor the failure to perform of a trust advisor, trust protector, or other fiduciary designated by the terms of the trust as provided in this subsection (h) shall affect the limitation on the liability of any excluded fiduciary provided by part 12 of this chapter.
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