Big Changes To Nevada Estate And Trust Code

Recently, the Nevada legislature conducted an update of their estate and trust laws when SB484 was signed by the governor. Below is a summary of some of the key updates from this new legislation:

• The ability to decant from one trust to another has been altered to allow a transfer as long as the trust did not pay interest under IRC § 2702 or qualified for a marital or charitable deduction. This change, among many potential uses, will allow trust that have mandatory distributions of income to be decanted to avoid creditors gaining a claim on an asset that was distributed to the beneficiary.
• Trust that had been decanted into another were prohibited from adding any new beneficiary to the second trust under old law. Now, the trustee of the new trust may add to the current beneficiary pool anyone that was a present or future beneficiary under the old trust.
• Nevada law has been clarified concerning the transfer of trust situs from other states and now clearly states that trust that move will be governed under Nevada law and take advantage of the laws of the state.
• Non-judicial settlement agreement are now allowed to change the terms of a trust, in certain circumstances outline in the new statute, with the agreement of all indispensable parties.

See Kristen Simmons, Nevada Legislature Allows for Greater Flexibility with Irrevocable Trusts, Trust Advisor, June 17, 2015.