As used in this chapter:

Ask a will, trust or estate question, get an answer ASAP!
Thousands of highly rated, verified estate & trust lawyers.
Click here to chat with a lawyer about your rights.

(1) “Action”, with respect to an act of a trustee, includes a failure to act.

(2) “Ascertainable standard” means a standard relating to an individual’s health, education, support or maintenance within the meaning of Section 2041(b)(1)(A) or 2514(c)(1) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, or any subsequent corresponding internal revenue code of the United States, as amended from time to time, as in effect on January 1, 2020, or as later amended.

(3) “Beneficiary” means a person that (A) has a present or future beneficial interest in a trust, vested or contingent; or (B) in a capacity other than that of trustee, holds a power of appointment over trust property. “Beneficiary” does not include an appointee under a power of appointment until the power is exercised and the trustee has knowledge of the exercise and the identity of the appointee.

(4) “Breach of trust” includes a violation by a trust director or trustee of a duty imposed on the director or trustee by the terms of the trust, sections 45a-499a to 45a-500s, inclusive, or law of this state other than sections 45a-499a to 45a-500s, inclusive, pertaining to trusts.

(5) “Charitable trust” means a trust, or part of a trust, created (A) for a charitable purpose described in section 45a-499z; and (B) when property is dedicated for a charitable purpose, whether the dedication is by written instrument, declaration, deed, pledge, judgment or decree.

(6) “Conservator of the estate” means a person appointed by the court to administer the estate of an adult individual.

(7) “Conservator of the person” means a person appointed by the court to make decisions regarding the support, care, education, health and welfare of an adult individual and includes a conservator of the person of an adult, but does not include a guardian ad litem.

(8) “Court” means a court of this state having jurisdiction over the matter pursuant to sections 45a-499o and 45a-499p or a court of another state having jurisdiction under the law of the other state.

(9) “Current beneficiary” means a beneficiary that, on the date the beneficiary‘s qualification is determined, is a distributee or permissible distributee of trust income or principal.

(10) “Designated representative” means any person designated as provided in subsection (a) of section 45a-499u, unless precluded from acting by the trust instrument or applicable law.

(11) “Directed trust” means a trust for which the terms of the trust grant a power of direction.

(12) “Directed trustee” means a trustee that is subject to a trust director’s power of direction.

(13) “Environmental law” means a federal, state or local law, rule, regulation or ordinance relating to protection of the environment.

(14) “Guardian” means a person appointed by the court pursuant to part V of chapter 802h.

(15) “Inter vivos trust” means a trust that is not a testamentary trust.

(16) “Interests of the beneficiaries” means the beneficial interests provided in the terms of the trust.

(17) “Jurisdiction”, with respect to a geographic area, includes a state or country.

(18) “Mandatory distribution” means distribution of income or principal that the trustee is required to make to a beneficiary under the terms of the trust, including a distribution upon termination of the trust. “Mandatory distribution” does not include a distribution subject to the exercise of the trustee’s discretion, regardless of whether the terms of the trust (A) include a support or other standard to guide the trustee in making distribution decisions; or (B) provide that the trustee may or shall make discretionary distributions, including distributions pursuant to a support or other standard.

(19) “Person” means an individual, corporation, statutory or business trust, estate, trust, partnership, limited liability company, association, joint venture, court, government, governmental subdivision, agency or instrumentality, public corporation or any other legal or commercial entity.

(20) “Power of direction” means a power over a trust granted to a person by the terms of the trust to the extent the power is exercisable while the person is not serving as a trustee. “Power of direction” includes a power over the investment, management or distribution of trust property or other matters of trust administration, but does not include the powers described in subsection (b) of section 45a-500e.

(21) “Power of withdrawal” means a presently exercisable general power of appointment other than a power exercisable only upon consent of the trustee or a person holding an adverse interest.

(22) “Property” means anything that may be the subject of ownership, whether real or personal and whether legal or equitable, or any interest therein.

(23) “Qualified beneficiary” means a beneficiary that, on the date the beneficiary’s qualification is determined: (A) Is a distributee or permissible distributee of trust income or principal; (B) would be a distributee or permissible distributee of trust income or principal if the interests of the distributees described in subparagraph (A) of this subdivision terminated on such date without causing the trust to terminate; or (C) would be a distributee or permissible distributee of trust income or principal if the trust terminated on such date.

(24) “Revocable”, as applied to a trust, means revocable by the settlor without the consent of the trustee or a person holding an adverse interest.

(25) “Settlor” means a person, including a testator, that creates or contributes property to a trust. If more than one person creates or contributes property to a trust, each person is a settlor of the portion of the trust property attributable to such person’s contribution, except to the extent another person has the power to revoke or withdraw such portion and as otherwise provided in section 45a-499nn.

(26) “Spendthrift provision” means a term of a trust that restrains both voluntary and involuntary transfer of a beneficiary’s interest.

(27) “State” means a state of the United States, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the United States Virgin Islands or any territory or insular possession subject to the jurisdiction of the United States, and includes an Indian tribe or band recognized by federal law or formally acknowledged by a state.

(28) “Terms of a trust” means:

(A) Except as otherwise provided in subparagraph (B) of this subdivision, the manifestation of the settlor’s intent regarding a trust’s provisions as:

(i) Expressed in the trust instrument; or

(ii) Established by other evidence that would be admissible in a judicial proceeding; or

(B) The trust’s provisions, as established, determined or amended by:

(i) A trustee or other person in accordance with authority under the trust instrument, a statute or a court order;

(ii) A court order; or

(iii) A nonjudicial settlement agreement under section 45a-499k and subsection (a) of section 45a-499ll or court approval of the combination of a testamentary trust with another trust or the division of a testamentary trust into two or more separate trusts pursuant to subsection (b) of section 45a-499ll.

(29) “Testamentary trust” means a trust created under a will and, unless otherwise expressly provided, any trust established pursuant to an order of the Probate Court.

(30) “Trust director” means a person that is granted a power of direction by the terms of a trust to the extent the power is exercisable while the person is not serving as a trustee, provided a person is a trust director whether or not the terms of the trust refer to the person as a trust director and whether or not the person is a beneficiary or settlor of the trust.

(31) “Trust instrument” means any instrument executed by the settlor, including a will establishing or creating a testamentary trust, that contains terms of the trust, including any amendments thereto. In the case of a charitable trust, “trust instrument” means any written instrument by which property is dedicated for a charitable purpose described in section 45a-499z.

(32) “Trustee” includes an original, additional and successor trustee and a cotrustee.