Delaware Code Title 12 Sec. 3572 – Avoidance of qualified dispositions
(a) Notwithstanding any other provision of this Code, no action of any kind, including, without limitation, an action to enforce a judgment entered by a court or other body having adjudicative authority, shall be brought at law or in equity for an attachment or other provisional remedy against property that is the subject of a qualified disposition or for avoidance of a qualified disposition unless such action shall be brought pursuant to the provisions of § 1304 or § 1305 of Title 6 and, in the case of a creditor whose claim arose after a qualified disposition, unless the qualified disposition was made with actual intent to defraud such creditor. The Court of Chancery shall have exclusive jurisdiction over any action brought with respect to a qualified disposition.
Terms Used In Delaware Code Title 12 Sec. 3572
- Attachment: A procedure by which a person's property is seized to pay judgments levied by the court.
- 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
- Claim: means a right to payment, whether or not the right is reduced to judgment, liquidated, unliquidated, fixed, contingent, matured, unmatured, disputed, undisputed, legal, equitable, secured or unsecured. See Delaware Code Title 12 Sec. 3570
- Court: means the Court of Chancery. See Delaware Code Title 12 Sec. 39A-101
- Creditor: means , with respect to a transferor, a person who has a claim. See Delaware Code Title 12 Sec. 3570
- Disposition: means a transfer, conveyance or assignment of property (including a change in the legal ownership of property occurring upon the substitution of 1 trustee for another or the addition of 1 or more new trustees), or the exercise of a power so as to cause a transfer of property, to a trustee or trustees, but shall not include the release or relinquishment of an interest in property that theretofore was the subject of a qualified disposition and shall not include a sale or exchange for full and adequate consideration. See Delaware Code Title 12 Sec. 3570
- 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.
- 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.
- Person: has the meaning ascribed to it in § 302(15) of Title 1. See Delaware Code Title 12 Sec. 3570
- Property: includes real property, personal property, and interests in real or personal property. See Delaware Code Title 12 Sec. 3570
- Qualified disposition: means a disposition by or from a transferor (or multiple transferors in the case of property in which each such transferor owns an undivided interest) to 1 or more trustees, at least 1 of which is a qualified trustee, with or without consideration, by means of a trust instrument. See Delaware Code Title 12 Sec. 3570
- Qualified trustee: means a person who meets the requirements of the following paragraphs (8)a. See Delaware Code Title 12 Sec. 3570
- State: means a state of the United States, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the United States Virgin Islands, a federally recognized Indian tribe, or any territory or insular possession subject to the jurisdiction of the United States. See Delaware Code Title 12 Sec. 39A-101
- Statute: A law passed by a legislature.
- Transferor: means a person who, as an owner of property, as a holder of a power of appointment which authorizes the holder to appoint in favor of the holder, the holder's creditors, the holder's estate or the creditors of the holder's estate, or as a trustee, directly or indirectly makes a disposition or causes a disposition to be made. See Delaware Code Title 12 Sec. 3570
- Trust instrument: means an instrument appointing a qualified trustee or qualified trustees for the property that is the subject of a disposition, which instrument:
- Trustee: A person or institution holding and administering property in trust.
(b) A creditor’s claim under subsection (a) of this section shall be extinguished unless:
(1) The creditor’s claim arose before the qualified disposition was made, and the action is brought within the limitations of § 1309 of Title 6 in effect on the later of the date of the qualified disposition or August 1, 2000; or
(2) Notwithstanding the provisions of § 1309 of Title 6, the creditor’s claim arose concurrent with or subsequent to the qualified disposition and the action is brought within 4 years after the qualified disposition is made.
In any action described in subsection (a) of this section, the burden to prove the matter by clear and convincing evidence shall be upon the creditor.
(c) For purposes of this subchapter, a qualified disposition that is made by means of a disposition by a transferor who is a trustee shall be deemed to have been made as of the time (whether before, on or after July 1, 1997) the property that is the subject of the qualified disposition was originally transferred to the transferor (or any predecessor trustee) making the qualified disposition in a form that meets the requirements of § 3570(11)b. and c. of this title. If a trustee of an existing trust proposes to make a qualified disposition pursuant to the provisions of this subsection but the trust would not conform to the requirements of § 3570(11)b.2. of this title as a result of the original transferor’s nonconforming powers of appointment, then, upon the trustee’s delivery to the qualified trustee of an irrevocable written election to have this subsection apply to the trust, the nonconforming powers of appointment shall be deemed modified to the extent necessary to conform with § 3570(11)b.2. of this title. For purposes of this subchapter, the irrevocable written election shall include a description of the original transferor’s powers of appointment as modified together with the original transferor’s written consent thereto, but no such consent of the original transferor shall be considered a disposition within the meaning of § 3570(4) of this title.
(d) Notwithstanding any law to the contrary, a creditor, including a creditor whose claim arose before or after a qualified disposition, or any other person shall have only such rights with respect to a qualified disposition as are provided in this section and §§ 3573 and 3574 of this title, and no such creditor nor any other person shall have any claim or cause of action against the trustee, or advisor described in § 3570(8)c. of this title, of a trust that is the subject of a qualified disposition, or against any person involved in the counseling, drafting, preparation, execution or funding of a trust that is the subject of a qualified disposition.
(e) Notwithstanding any other provision of law, no action of any kind, including, without limitation, an action to enforce a judgment entered by a court or other body having adjudicative authority, shall be brought at law or in equity against the trustee, or advisor described in § 3570(8)c. of this title, of a trust that is the subject of a qualified disposition, or against any person involved in the counseling, drafting, preparation, execution or funding of a trust that is the subject of a qualified disposition, if, as of the date such action is brought, an action by a creditor with respect to such qualified disposition would be barred under this section.
(f) In circumstances where more than 1 qualified disposition is made by means of the same trust instrument, then:
(1) The making of a subsequent qualified disposition shall be disregarded in determining whether a creditor’s claim with respect to a prior qualified disposition is extinguished as provided in subsection (b) of this section; and
(2) Any distribution to a beneficiary shall be deemed to have been made from the latest such qualified disposition.
(g) If, in any action brought against a trustee of a trust that is the result of a qualified disposition, a court takes any action whereby such court declines to apply the law of this State in determining the validity, construction or administration of such trust, or the effect of a spendthrift provision thereof, such trustee shall immediately upon such court’s action and without the further order of any court, cease in all respects to be trustee of such trust and a successor trustee shall thereupon succeed as trustee in accordance with the terms of the trust instrument or, if the trust instrument does not provide for a successor trustee and the trust would otherwise be without a trustee, the Court of Chancery, upon the application of any beneficiary of such trust, shall appoint a successor trustee upon such terms and conditions as it determines to be consistent with the purposes of such trust and this statute. Upon such trustee’s ceasing to be trustee, such trustee shall have no power or authority other than to convey the trust property to the successor trustee named in the trust instrument or appointed by the Court of Chancery in accordance with this section.
71 Del. Laws, c. 159, § ?1; 71 Del. Laws, c. 343, § ?7; 72 Del. Laws, c. 59, § ?2; 72 Del. Laws, c. 195, § ?1; 72 Del. Laws, c. 341, §§ ?6-8; 73 Del. Laws, c. 378, § ?4; 74 Del. Laws, c. 100, §§ ?3, 5; 75 Del. Laws, c. 97, §§ ?13, 14; 76 Del. Laws, c. 90, § ?10;