(a) Except as otherwise provided in subsection (b), if a particular charitable purpose becomes unlawful, impracticable, impossible to achieve, obsolete or ineffective:

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Terms Used In Tennessee Code 35-15-413

  • Charitable trust: means a trust, or portion of a trust, created for a charitable purpose described in §. See Tennessee Code 35-15-103
  • Property: means anything that may be the subject of ownership, whether real or personal, legal or equitable, or any interest therein. See Tennessee Code 35-15-103
  • Settlor: means a person, including a testator, who creates, or contributes property to, a trust. See Tennessee Code 35-15-103
  • Successors in interest: means the beneficiaries under the settlor's will, if the settlor has a will, or in the absence of an effective will provision, the settlor's heirs at law. See Tennessee Code 35-15-103
(1) The trust does not fail, in whole or in part;
(2) The trust property does not revert to the settlor or the settlor’s successors in interest; and
(3) The court may apply cy pres to modify or terminate the trust by directing that the trust property be applied or distributed, in whole or in part, in a manner that fulfills as nearly as possible the settlor’s charitable intent and purposes.
(b) A provision in the terms of a charitable trust that would result in distribution of the trust property to a noncharitable beneficiary prevails over the power of the court under subsection (a) to apply cy pres to modify or terminate the trust only if, when the provision takes effect:

(1) The trust property is to revert to the settlor and the settlor is still living; or
(2) Fewer than twenty-one (21) years have elapsed since the date of the trust’s creation.