2023 South Carolina Code of Laws › Title 62 - South Carolina Probate Code › Article 7 - South Carolina Trust Code › Section 62-7-816A. Authority to appoint the property of original trust to second trust.

(a) Unless the terms of the instrument expressly provide otherwise, a trustee with the discretion to make distributions of principal or income to or for the benefit of one or more beneficiaries of a trust, the original trust, may exercise that discretion by appointing all or part of the property subject to that discretion in favor of another trust for the benefit of one or more of those beneficiaries, the second trust. This power may be exercised without the approval of a court, but court approval is necessary if the terms of the original trust expressly prohibit the exercise of such power or require court approval.
(b) The trustee of the original trust may exercise this power whether or not there is a current need to distribute principal or income under any standard provided in the original trust. The trustee's special power to appoint trust principal or income in further trust under this section includes the power to create the second trust.
(c) The second trust may be a trust created under the same trust instrument as the original trust or under a different trust instrument, and the trustee of the second trust may be either the trustee of the original trust or another trustee.
(d) The terms of the second trust are subject to the following requirements:
(1) The beneficiaries of the second trust may include only beneficiaries of the original trust.
(2) A beneficiary who has only a future beneficial interest, vested or contingent, in the original trust cannot have the future beneficial interest accelerated to a present interest in the second trust.
(3) The terms of the second trust may not contain any provision nor reduce any fixed income, annuity, or unitrust interest of a beneficiary in the assets of an original trust document if the inclusion of the provision or reduction in the original trust document would have disqualified any assets of the original trust for any federal or state income, estate, or gift tax deduction received on account of any assets of the original trust, or if the inclusion of the provision or reduction in the original trust would have reduced the amount of any federal or state income, estate, or gift tax deduction received. In addition, the terms of the second trust may not reduce any retained interest of a beneficiary of the original trust if the interest is a qualified interest under Internal Revenue Code Section 2702.
(4) If contributions to the original trust have been excluded from the gift tax by the application of Internal Revenue Code Section 2503(b) and Section 2503(c), then the second trust shall provide that the beneficiary's remainder interest in the contributions shall vest and become distributable no later than the date upon which the interest would have vested and become distributable under the terms of the original trust.
(5) If a beneficiary of the original trust has a power of withdrawal over trust property, then either:
(A) the terms of the second trust must provide a power of withdrawal in the second trust identical to the power of withdrawal in the original trust; or
(B) sufficient trust property must remain in the original trust to satisfy the outstanding power of withdrawal.
(6) If the power to distribute principal or income in the original trust is subject to an ascertainable standard, then the power to distribute income or principal in the second trust must be subject to the same ascertainable standard as in the original trust and must be exercisable in favor of the same beneficiaries as in the original trust.
(7) The second trust may confer a power of appointment upon a beneficiary of the original trust to whom or for the benefit of whom the trustee has the power to distribute principal or income of the original trust. The permissible appointees of the power of appointment conferred upon a beneficiary may include persons who are not beneficiaries of the original or second trust.
(e) A trustee may not exercise the power to appoint principal or income under subsection (a) of this section if the trustee is a beneficiary of the original trust, but the remaining cotrustee or a majority of the remaining cotrustees may act for the trust. If all the trustees are beneficiaries of the original trust, then the court may appoint a special fiduciary with authority to exercise the power to appoint principal or income under subsection (a) of this section.
(f) The exercise of the power to appoint principal or income under subsection (a) of this section:
(1) is considered the exercise of a power of appointment, other than a power to appoint to the trustee, the trustee's creditors, the trustee's estate or the creditors of the trustee's estate;
(2) does not result in the trustee or cotrustees of the original trust being considered the settlor of the second trust;
(3) is not prohibited by a spendthrift provision or by a provision in the trust instrument that prohibits amendment or revocation of the trust.
(g) To effect the exercise of the power to appoint principal or income under subsection (a) of this section, all of the following apply:
(1) The exercise of the power to appoint must be made by an instrument in writing, signed and acknowledged by the trustee, setting forth the manner of the exercise of the power, including the terms of the second trust, and the effective date of the exercise of the power. The instrument must be filed with the records of the original trust.
(2) The trustee shall give written notice to all qualified beneficiaries of the original trust, at least ninety days prior to the effective date of the exercise of the power to appoint, of the trustee's intention to exercise the power. The notice must include a copy of the instrument described in item (1) of this subsection.
(3) If all qualified beneficiaries waive the notice period by a signed written instrument delivered to the trustee, the trustee's power to appoint principal or income is exercisable after notice is waived by all qualified beneficiaries, notwithstanding the effective date of the exercise of the power.
(h) The provisions of this section shall not be construed to create or imply a duty of the trustee to exercise the power to distribute principal or income, or to create an inference of impropriety made as a result of a trustee not exercising the power to appoint principal or income conferred under subsection (a) of this section. The provisions of this section shall not be construed to abridge the right of any trustee who has a power to appoint property in further trust that arises under the terms of the original trust or under any other section of this article or under another provision of law or under common law. The terms of an original trust may modify or waive the notice requirements under subsection (g), reduce or increase restrictions on altering the interests of beneficiaries under subsection (d), and may otherwise contain provisions that are inconsistent with the requirements of this section.
(i) A trustee or beneficiary may commence a proceeding to approve or disapprove a proposed exercise of the trustee's special power to appoint to another trust pursuant to subsection (a) of this section.
(j) The provisions of Section 62-7-109 regarding notices and the sending of documents to persons under this article apply for the purposes of notices and the sending of documents under this section.
HISTORY: 2013 Act No. 100, Section 2, eff January 1, 2014.