Source: L. 2000: Entire part R&RE, p. 1137, § 1, effective July 1, 2001.
Prior Acts. Both the 1931 Uniform Act (Section 4) and the 1962 Uniform Act (Section 4(d)) provide that a deceased income beneficiary's estate is entitled to the undistributed income. The Drafting Committee concluded that this is probably not what most settlors would want, and that, with respect to undistributed income, most settlors would favor the income beneficiary first, the remainder beneficiaries second, and the income beneficiary's heirs last, if at all. However, it decided not to eliminate this provision to avoid causing disputes about whether the trustee should have distributed collected cash before the income beneficiary died.
Accrued periodic payments. Under the prior Uniform Acts, an income beneficiary or his estate is entitled to receive a portion of any payments, other than dividends, that are due or that have accrued when the income interest terminates. The last sentence of subsection (1) changes that rule by providing that such items are not included in undistributed income. The items affected include periodic payments of interest, rent, and dividends, as well as items of income that accrue over a longer period of time; the rule also applies to expenses that are due or accrued.
Example -- accrued periodic payments. The rules in Section 15-1-409 and Section 15-1-410 work in the following manner: Assume that a periodic payment of rent that is due on July 20 has not been paid when an income interest ends on July 30; the successive income interest begins on July 31, and the rent payment that was due on July 20 is paid on August 3. Under Section 15-1-409 (1), the July 20 payment is added to the principal of the successive income interest when received. Under Section 15-1-409 (2), the entire periodic payment of rent that is due on August 20 is income when received by the successive income interest. Under Section 15-1-410, neither the income beneficiary of the terminated income interest nor the beneficiary's estate is entitled to any part of either the July 20 or the August 20 payments because neither one was received before the income interest ended on July 30. The same principles apply to expenses of the trust.
Beneficiary with an unqualified power to revoke. The requirement in subsection (2) to pay undistributed income to a mandatory income beneficiary or her estate does not apply to the extent the beneficiary has an unqualified power to revoke more than five percent of the trust immediately before the income interest ends. Without this exception, subsection (2) would apply to a revocable living trust whose settlor is the mandatory income beneficiary during her lifetime, even if her will provides that all of the assets in the probate estate are to be distributed to the trust.
If a trust permits the beneficiary to withdraw all or a part of the trust principal after attaining a specified age and the beneficiary attains that age but fails to withdraw all of the principal that she is permitted to withdraw, a trustee is not required to pay her or her estate the undistributed income attributable to the portion of the principal that she left in the trust. The assumption underlying this rule is that the beneficiary has either provided for the disposition of the trust assets (including the undistributed income) by exercising a power of appointment that she has been given or has not withdrawn the assets because she is willing to have the principal and undistributed income be distributed under the terms of the trust. If the beneficiary has the power to withdraw 25% of the trust principal, the trustee must pay to her or her estate the undistributed income from the 75% that she cannot withdraw.
Structure Colorado Code
Title 15 - Probate, Trusts, and Fiduciaries
Part 4 - Uniform Principal and Income Act
§ 15-1-403. Fiduciary Duties - General Principles
§ 15-1-404. Trustee's Power to Adjust
§ 15-1-404.5. Conversion - Unitrusts - Administration
§ 15-1-406. Determination and Distribution of Net Income
§ 15-1-407. Distribution to Residuary and Remainder Beneficiaries
§ 15-1-408. When Right to Income Begins and Ends
§ 15-1-409. Apportionment of Receipts and Disbursements When Decedent Dies or Income Interest Begins
§ 15-1-410. Apportionment When Income Interest Ends
§ 15-1-411. Character of Receipts
§ 15-1-412. Distribution From Trust or Estate
§ 15-1-413. Business and Other Activities Conducted by Trustee
§ 15-1-414. Principal Receipts
§ 15-1-416. Obligation to Pay Money
§ 15-1-417. Insurance Policies and Similar Contracts
§ 15-1-418. Insubstantial Allocations Not Required
§ 15-1-419. Deferred Compensation, Annuities, and Similar Payments
§ 15-1-421. Minerals, Water, and Other Natural Resources
§ 15-1-421.5. Disposition of Natural Resources
§ 15-1-423. Property Not Productive of Income
§ 15-1-424. Derivatives and Options
§ 15-1-425. Asset-Backed Securities
§ 15-1-426. Disbursements From Income
§ 15-1-427. Disbursements From Principal
§ 15-1-428. Transfers From Income to Principal for Depreciation
§ 15-1-429. Transfers From Income to Reimburse Principal
§ 15-1-431. Adjustments Between Principal and Income Because of Taxes
§ 15-1-432. Uniformity of Application - Construction
§ 15-1-434. Effective Date - Application to Existing Trusts and Estates - Election
§ 15-1-435. Application of Certain Provisions - Notice of Election
§ 15-1-436. Transitional Matters
§ 15-1-452. Source and Prior Enactment - Uniform Application
§ 15-1-453. Definitions - Construction of Terms
§ 15-1-455. Application of This Subpart 7 - Powers of Settlor
§ 15-1-456. Income and Principal - Disposition
§ 15-1-457. Apportionment of Income
§ 15-1-458. Corporate Dividends and Share Rights
§ 15-1-459. Premium and Discount Bonds
§ 15-1-460. Principal Used in Business
§ 15-1-461. Principal Comprising Animals
§ 15-1-462. Principal Subject to Depletion
§ 15-1-463. Unproductive Estate
§ 15-1-464. Disposition of Natural Resources
§ 15-1-464.5. Disposition of Natural Resources - Special Applicability
§ 15-1-465. Expenses - Trust Estates
§ 15-1-466. Expenses - Nontrust Estates