Missouri Laws 456.1-112 – Rules of construction — inapplicable to certain trusts
1. If a settlor’s marriage is dissolved or annulled, any beneficial terms of a trust in favor of the settlor’s former spouse or any fiduciary appointment of the settlor’s former spouse is revoked on the date the marriage is dissolved or annulled, whether or not the terms of the trust refer to marital status. The terms of the trust shall be given effect as if the former spouse had died immediately before the date the dissolution or annulment became final. This subsection shall also apply to any beneficial interest or fiduciary appointment in favor of a relative of the settlor’s former spouse as if such relative were the former spouse.
2. Subsection 1 of this section does not apply to the terms of a trust that provide any beneficial interest or fiduciary appointment for a former spouse or a relative of a former spouse that was created after the marriage was dissolved or annulled, or that expressly states that marriage dissolution or annulment shall not affect the designation of a former spouse or relative of a former spouse as a beneficiary or a fiduciary of the trust.
Terms Used In Missouri Laws 456.1-112
- Assets: (1) The property comprising the estate of a deceased person, or (2) the property in a trust account.
- 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
- Contract: A legal written agreement that becomes binding when signed.
- Fiduciary: A trustee, executor, or administrator.
- Gift: A voluntary transfer or conveyance of property without consideration, or for less than full and adequate consideration based on fair market value.
- Gross estate: The total fair market value of all property and property interests, real and personal, tangible and intangible, of which a decedent had beneficial ownership at the time of death before subtractions for deductions, debts, administrative expenses, and casualty losses suffered during estate administration.
- Marital deduction: The deduction(s) that can be taken in the determination of gift and estate tax liabilities because of the existence of a marriage or marital relationship.
- Settlement: Parties to a lawsuit resolve their difference without having a trial. Settlements often involve the payment of compensation by one party in satisfaction of the other party's claims.
3. A court may order or the settlor and the spouse may agree before, during, or after the marriage in a binding contract or settlement agreement that subsection 1 of this section does not apply to a beneficial interest or fiduciary appointment.
4. Any terms of a trust revoked solely by this section are revived by the settlor’s remarriage to the former spouse or by a nullification of the marriage dissolution or annulment.
5. In this section, “a relative of the settlor’s former spouse” means an individual who is related to the settlor’s former spouse by blood, adoption or affinity and who, after the divorce or annulment, is not related to the settlor by blood, adoption or affinity.
6. The provisions of this section shall not apply to any trust for which a gift tax marital deduction has been claimed or allowed under Section 2523 of the Internal Revenue Code. The provisions of this section shall not apply in a manner that would result in either:
(a) a transfer to a trust being treated as an incomplete gift for federal gift tax purposes; or
(b) inclusion of assets of a trust in the gross estate of a settlor for federal estate tax purposes.