HB186: relative to the effect of divorce or annulment upon trusts.

CHAPTER 31

HB 186 - FINAL VERSION

2003 SESSION

03-0671

01/09

HOUSE BILL 186

AN ACT relative to the effect of divorce or annulment upon trusts.

SPONSORS: Rep. J. Pratt, Ches 24; Rep. Craig, Hills 50; Rep. Rowe, Hills 47; Sen. Foster, Dist 13; Sen. Peterson, Dist 11

COMMITTEE: Judiciary

ANALYSIS

This bill clarifies the effect that a divorce or annulment has upon a trust.

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Explanation: Matter added to current law appears in bold italics.

Matter removed from current law appears [in brackets and struckthrough.]

Matter which is either (a) all new or (b) repealed and reenacted appears in regular type.

03-0671

01/09

STATE OF NEW HAMPSHIRE

In the Year of Our Lord Two Thousand Three

AN ACT relative to the effect of divorce or annulment upon trusts.

Be it Enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court convened:

31:1 New Paragraph; Revocation; Divorce or Annulment. Amend RSA 551:13 by inserting after paragraph II the following new paragraph:

III. If after executing a trust instrument in which a sole grantor reserves a power to alter, amend, revoke or terminate the provisions of the trust, the grantor is divorced or the marriage is annulled, the divorce or annulment revokes any disposition or appointment of property made by the trust to the former spouse, any provision conferring a general or special power of appointment to the former spouse, and any nomination of the former spouse as trustee, unless the trust expressly provides otherwise. Property prevented from passing to a former spouse because of revocation by divorce or annulment passes as if the former spouse and all heirs in the descending line of such former spouse who are not also heirs at law of the decedent failed to survive the decedent, and other provisions conferring some power or office on the former spouse are interpreted as if the spouse and all heirs in the descending line of such former spouse who are not also heirs at law of the decedent failed to survive the decedent. Any devise or distribution to any such heirs in the descending line of such former spouse that is contingent upon such spouse predeceasing the grantor is revoked by this section, unless the trust expressly provides otherwise. If provisions are revoked solely by this paragraph, they are revived by the grantor's remarriage to the former spouse. A decree of separation which does not terminate the status of husband and wife is not a divorce for the purposes of this paragraph. No change of circumstances other than as described in this paragraph revokes a trust.

31:2 Effective Date. This act shall take effect January 1, 2004.

(Approved: May 2, 2003)

(Effective Date: January 1, 2004)