(a) An exercise of the power to invade trust principal under Alaska Stat. § 13.36.157 is the exercise of a special power of appointment.
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Terms Used In Alaska Statutes 13.36.158

  • Annuity: A periodic (usually annual) payment of a fixed sum of money for either the life of the recipient or for a fixed number of years. A series of payments under a contract from an insurance company, a trust company, or an individual. Annuity payments are made at regular intervals over a period of more than one full year.
  • 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
  • Common law: The legal system that originated in England and is now in use in the United States. It is based on judicial decisions rather than legislative action.
  • Corporation: A legal entity owned by the holders of shares of stock that have been issued, and that can own, receive, and transfer property, and carry on business in its own name.
  • Dependent: A person dependent for support upon another.
  • Evidence: Information presented in testimony or in documents that is used to persuade the fact finder (judge or jury) to decide the case for one side or the other.
  • 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.
  • Inter vivos: Transfer of property from one living person to another living person.
  • Jurisdiction: (1) The legal authority of a court to hear and decide a case. Concurrent jurisdiction exists when two courts have simultaneous responsibility for the same case. (2) The geographic area over which the court has authority to decide cases.
  • 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.
  • person: includes a corporation, company, partnership, firm, association, organization, business trust, or society, as well as a natural person. See Alaska Statutes 01.10.060
  • property: includes real and personal property. See Alaska Statutes 01.10.060
  • state: means the State of Alaska unless applied to the different parts of the United States and in the latter case it includes the District of Columbia and the territories. See Alaska Statutes 01.10.060
  • Trustee: A person or institution holding and administering property in trust.
  • writing: includes printing. See Alaska Statutes 01.10.060
(b) The appointed trust to which an authorized trustee appoints the assets of the invaded trust under Alaska Stat. § 13.36.157 may have a duration that is longer than the duration set out in the invaded trust.
(c) If an authorized trustee has unlimited discretion to invade the principal of a trust and if the same trustee or another trustee has a power, not dependent on unlimited discretion, to invade principal under the trust instrument, the authorized trustee having unlimited discretion may exercise the power of appointment under Alaska Stat. § 13.36.157(a) – (c).
(d) An authorized trustee may exercise the power to appoint in favor of an appointed trust under Alaska Stat. § 13.36.157 whether or not there is a current need to invade principal under the terms of the invaded trust.
(e) An authorized trustee exercising the power under Alaska Stat. § 13.36.157 – 13.36.159 has a fiduciary duty to exercise the power in the best interests of one or more proper objects of the exercise of the power and as a prudent person would exercise the power under the prevailing circumstances. The authorized trustee may not exercise the power under Alaska Stat. § 13.36.157 – 13.36.159 if there is substantial evidence of a contrary intent of the settlor and it cannot be established that the settlor would be likely to have changed this intention under the circumstances existing at the time the trustee exercises the power. The provisions of the invaded trust may not be viewed alone as substantial evidence of a contrary intent of the settlor unless the invaded trust expressly prohibits the exercise of the power in the manner intended by the authorized trustee.
(f) The provisions of Alaska Stat. § 13.36.157 – 13.36.159 may not be construed to abridge the right of a trustee to appoint property further in trust under the terms of the governing instrument of a trust, another provision of law, or common law, or as directed by a court having jurisdiction over the trust.
(g) Nothing in Alaska Stat. § 13.36.157 – 13.36.159 creates or implies a duty to exercise a power to invade principal. An inference of impropriety may not be made, and liability is not incurred, as a result of an authorized trustee not exercising the power conferred under Alaska Stat. § 13.36.157.
(h) A power authorized by Alaska Stat. § 13.36.157 may be exercised, subject to the provisions of Alaska Stat. § 13.36.159(a), unless expressly prohibited by the terms of the governing instrument. A general prohibition against amending or revoking the invaded trust and a provision that constitutes a spendthrift clause do not preclude the exercise of a power under Alaska Stat. § 13.36.157.
(i) An authorized trustee may not exercise a power authorized by Alaska Stat. § 13.36.157 to

(1) reduce, limit, or modify a beneficiary‘s current right to a mandatory distribution of income or principal, a mandatory annuity or unitrust interest, a right to withdraw a percentage of the value of the trust, or a right to withdraw a specified dollar amount, if the mandatory right has come into effect with respect to the beneficiary, but the mandatory right may be reduced, limited, or modified during any extended duration of the trust; however, notwithstanding the other provisions in this paragraph, but subject to the other limitations in Alaska Stat. § 13.36.157 – 13.36.159, an authorized trustee may exercise a power authorized by Alaska Stat. § 13.36.157 to appoint to an appointed trust that is a special needs trust, a pooled trust, or a third-party trust;
(2) decrease or indemnify against a trustee’s liability or exonerate a trustee from liability for failure to exercise reasonable care, diligence, and prudence unless the court having jurisdiction over the trust specifies otherwise;
(3) eliminate a provision granting another person the right to remove or replace the authorized trustee exercising the power under Alaska Stat. § 13.36.157 unless a court having jurisdiction over the trust specifies otherwise;
(4) fix as binding and conclusive the value of an asset for purposes of distribution, allocation, or otherwise; or
(5) jeopardize

(A) the deduction or exclusion originally claimed with respect to a contribution to the invaded trust that qualified for the annual exclusion under 26 U.S.C. § 2503(b), the marital deduction under 26 U.S.C. § 2056(a) or 26 U.S.C. 2523(a), or the charitable deduction under 26 U.S.C. § 170(a), 26 U.S.C. 642(c), 26 U.S.C. § 2055(a), or 26 U.S.C. 2522(a) (Internal Revenue Code);
(B) the qualification of a transfer as a direct skip under 26 U.S.C. § 2642(c) (Internal Revenue Code);
(C) the election to treat a corporation as a subchapter S corporation under 26 U.S.C. § 1362 (Internal Revenue Code); or
(D) another specific tax benefit for which a contribution originally qualified for income, gift, estate, or generation-skipping transfer tax purposes under 26 U.S.C. (Internal Revenue Code).
(j) Before exercising the power under Alaska Stat. § 13.36.157, an authorized trustee shall consider the tax implications of the exercise of the power.
(k) An authorized trustee may not exercise a power described in Alaska Stat. § 13.36.157 – 13.36.159 in violation of the limitations on validity in Alaska Stat. § 34.27.051 or 34.27.100, or the restrictions on exercising certain powers in Alaska Stat. § 13.36.153 by trustees who are not independent. A violation voids the entire exercise of the power unless the exercise is modified to correct the violation.
(l) Unless a court having jurisdiction over the trust directs otherwise, an authorized trustee may not exercise a power authorized by Alaska Stat. § 13.36.157 to change the provisions regarding the determination of the compensation of a trustee. The commissions or other compensation payable to the trustees of the invaded trust may continue to be paid to the trustees of the appointed trust during the term of the appointed trust and shall be determined in the same manner as for the invaded trust.
(m) A trustee may not receive a payment, a commission, or other compensation for appointing property from the invaded trust to an appointed trust under Alaska Stat. § 13.36.157. However, a trustee may be compensated at a reasonable rate for the time spent considering and implementing the exercise of a power to appoint.
(n) Unless the invaded trust expressly provides otherwise, the provisions in Alaska Stat. § 13.36.157 – 13.36.159 apply to

(1) a trust, whether testamentary or inter vivos, governed by the laws of this state, including a trust whose governing law has been changed to the laws of this state; and
(2) a trust that has a trustee who is an individual domiciled in this state, or a trustee that is an entity having an office in this state, if a majority of the trustees select this state as the location for the primary administration of the trust and the selection is made by an instrument in writing that is signed and acknowledged by a majority of the trustees; the instrument exercising this selection shall be kept with the records of the invaded trust.
(o) In this section, “Internal Revenue Code” means the Internal Revenue Code of the United States (26 U.S.C.) as it exists on September 9, 2013 and as it is amended from time to time.
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