Colorado Code
Part 4 - Uniform Principal and Income Act
§ 15-1-421. Minerals, Water, and Other Natural Resources









Source: L. 2000: Entire part R&RE, p. 1142, § 1, effective July 1, 2001. L. 2009: (3) and (4) amended, (HB 09-1241), ch. 169, p. 744, § 8, effective April 22.
Editor's note: This section is similar to former § 15-1-414 as it existed prior to 2001.
Prior Acts. The 1962 Uniform Act allocates to principal as a depletion allowance, 27-1/2% of the gross receipts, but not more than 50% of the net receipts after paying expenses. The Internal Revenue Code no longer provides for a 27-1/2% depletion allowance, although the major oil-producing States have retained the 27-1/2% provision in their principal and income acts (Texas amended its Act in 1993, but did not change the depletion provision). Section 9 of the 1931 Uniform Act allocates all of the net proceeds received as consideration for the "permanent severance of natural resources from the lands" to principal.
Section 15-1-421 allocates 90% of the net receipts to principal and 10% to income. A depletion provision that is tied to past or present Code provisions is undesirable because it causes a large portion of the oil and gas receipts to be paid out as income. As wells are depleted, the amount received by the income beneficiary falls drastically. Allocating a larger portion of the receipts to principal enables the trustee to acquire other income producing assets that will continue to produce income when the mineral reserves are exhausted.
Application of Sections 15-1-413 and 15-1-418. This section applies to the extent that the trustee does not account separately for receipts from minerals and other natural resources under Section 15-1-413 or allocate all of the receipts to principal under Section 15-1-418.
Open mine doctrine. The purpose of Section 15-1-421 (3) is to abolish the "open mine doctrine" as it may apply to the rights of an income beneficiary and a remainder beneficiary in receipts from the production of minerals from land owned or leased by a trust. Instead, such receipts are to be allocated to or between principal and income in accordance with the provisions of this Act. For a discussion of the open mine doctrine, see generally 3A Austin W. Scott & William F. Fratcher, The Law of Trusts § 239.3 (4th ed. 1988), and Nutter v. Stockton , 626 P.2d 861 (Okla. 1981).
Effective date provision. Section 9(b) of the 1962 Uniform Act provides that the natural resources provision does not apply to property interests held by the trust on the effective date of the Act, which reflects concerns about the constitutionality of applying a retroactive administrative provision to interests in real estate, based on the opinion in the Oklahoma case of Franklin v. Margay Oil Corporation , 153 P.2d 486, 501 (Okla. 1944). Section 15-1-421 (4) permits a trustee to use either the method provided for in this Act or the method used before the Act takes effect. Lawyers in jurisdictions other than Oklahoma may conclude that retroactivity is not a problem as to property situated in their States, and this provision permits trustees to decide, based on advice from counsel in States whose law may be different from that of Oklahoma, whether they may apply this provision retroactively if they conclude that to do so is in the best interests of the beneficiaries.
If the property is in a State other than the State where the trust is administered, the trustee must be aware that the law of the property's situs may control this question. The outcome turns on a variety of questions: whether the terms of the trust specify that the law of a State other than the situs of the property shall govern the administration of the trust, and whether the courts will follow the terms of the trust; whether the trust's asset is the land itself or a leasehold interest in the land (as it frequently is with oil and gas property); whether a leasehold interest or its proceeds should be classified as real property or personal property, and if as personal property, whether applicable state law treats it as a movable or an immovable for conflict of laws purposes. See 5A Austin W. Scott & William F. Fratcher, The Law of Trusts §§ 648, at 531, 533-534; § 657, at 600 (4th ed. 1989).

Structure Colorado Code

Colorado Code

Title 15 - Probate, Trusts, and Fiduciaries

Article 1 - Fiduciary

Part 4 - Uniform Principal and Income Act

§ 15-1-401. Short Title

§ 15-1-402. Definitions

§ 15-1-403. Fiduciary Duties - General Principles

§ 15-1-404. Trustee's Power to Adjust

§ 15-1-404.5. Conversion - Unitrusts - Administration

§ 15-1-405. Notice of Action

§ 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

§ 15-1-415. Rental Property

§ 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

§ 15-1-420. Liquidating Asset

§ 15-1-421. Minerals, Water, and Other Natural Resources

§ 15-1-421.5. Disposition of Natural Resources

§ 15-1-422. Timber

§ 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

§ 15-1-430. Income Taxes

§ 15-1-431. Adjustments Between Principal and Income Because of Taxes

§ 15-1-432. Uniformity of Application - Construction

§ 15-1-433. Severability

§ 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

§ 15-1-451. Short Title

§ 15-1-452. Source and Prior Enactment - Uniform Application

§ 15-1-453. Definitions - Construction of Terms

§ 15-1-454. Applicability

§ 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

§ 15-1-467. Disposition of Net Probate Income

§ 15-1-468. Repeal of Part