(a) Relative to a support interest, whether or not a trust contains a spendthrift provision:

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Terms Used In Tennessee Code 35-15-506

  • 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
  • Beneficiary: means a person that has a present or future beneficial interest in a trust, vested or contingent. See Tennessee Code 35-15-103
  • Fiduciary: A trustee, executor, or administrator.
  • Fiduciary: means :
    (A) A trustee, conservator, guardian, agent under any agency agreement or other instrument, an executor, personal representative or administrator of a decedent's estate, or any other party, including a trust advisor or a trust protector, who is acting in a fiduciary capacity for any person, trust, or estate. 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
  • Reach: means , with respect to a distribution interest or any power held by anyone relative to a trust, to subject such distribution interest or such power to a judgment, decree, garnishment, attachment, execution, levy, creditor's bill or other legal, equitable, or administrative process, relief, or control of any court, tribunal, agency, or other entity that, by power of law, is provided with powers or jurisdiction similar to those described in this subdivision (25). See Tennessee Code 35-15-103
  • Remainder: An interest in property that takes effect in the future at a specified time or after the occurrence of some event, such as the death of a life tenant.
  • Remainder interest: means an interest under which a trust beneficiary will receive property held by a trust outright at some time during the future. See Tennessee Code 35-15-103
  • Spendthrift provision: means a term of a trust which restrains both voluntary and involuntary transfer of a beneficiary's interest. See Tennessee Code 35-15-103
  • Trustee: A person or institution holding and administering property in trust.
  • Trustee: includes an original, additional, and successor trustee, and a cotrustee. See Tennessee Code 35-15-103
  • Year: means a calendar year, unless otherwise expressed. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
(1) Although a beneficiary of a support interest has enforceable rights under § 35-15-814, those rights do not raise the beneficiary‘s support interest to the level of a property interest;
(2) No creditor or assignee shall reach that support interest until a distribution from the support interest is actually made to the beneficiary;
(3) After all or a portion of a support interest is distributed to the beneficiary, no portion of the distribution made from the support interest shall be reached by a creditor or assignee of the beneficiary except to the extent that the distribution made from the support interest exceeds the amount necessary for the health, education, maintenance and support of the beneficiary who received the distribution made from the support interest;
(4) In the case of a beneficiary who holds a support interest, the use or enjoyment of property belonging to the trust by that beneficiary shall not be transferred and shall not be reached by creditors or assignees of that beneficiary;
(5) Regardless of whether a beneficiary has any outstanding creditors or assignees, a trustee or other fiduciary of a support interest may directly pay any expense on behalf of such beneficiary and may exhaust the income and principal of the trust for the benefit of such beneficiary; and
(6) No trustee or other fiduciary is liable to any creditor or assignee for paying the expenses of a beneficiary of a support interest.
(b) Relative to a mandatory interest, whether or not a trust contains a spendthrift provision:

(1) While a court may order a trustee or other fiduciary to distribute a past due mandatory distribution to its beneficiary, no court shall order a trustee or other fiduciary to distribute such past due mandatory distribution directly to a creditor or assignee;
(2) Regardless of whether a beneficiary has any outstanding creditors or assignees, a trustee or other fiduciary of a mandatory interest may directly pay any expense on behalf of such beneficiary and may exhaust the income and principal of the trust for the benefit of such beneficiary;
(3) No trustee or other fiduciary is liable to any creditor or assignee for paying the expenses of a beneficiary of a mandatory interest.
(c) Although a remainder interest may be an enforceable right, where it is not absolutely certain based on the language of the trust that the remainder interest will be distributed within one (1) year, it shall not be classified as a property interest. This subsection (c) does not affect eligibility for any public assistance program administered by the department of human services.
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