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Developed and maintained by the Division of Legislative Automated Systems.
2005 SESSION
057256224Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia:
1. That § 26-17.7 of the Code of Virginia is amended and reenacted as follows:
§ 26-17.7. Testamentary trustees under a will waiving accounts; waiver where beneficiary also trustee.
A. If (i) the will of a decedent probated on
or after July 1, 1993, contains a waiver of the obligations of the testamentary
trustee nominated therein to account, or (ii) if the sole beneficiary
of the trust also is a trustee, the
trustee will not be required to file accounts with the commissioner of accounts provided .
Where the waiver is contained in the decedent's
will, the trustee shall (i)
within ninety 90
days after qualification, notifies notify
in writing all beneficiaries of the trust who are adults other than the
trustee, whose addresses are known to the trustee and to whom income or
principal of the trust could be currently distributed; provides provide
each with a copy of the applicable provisions of the will; advises advise
each of his right to require an annual accounting; and provides provide
each with a copy of this code section and (ii) annually thereafter provides provide
each such beneficiary an accounting upon request. The trustee shall send to the
commissioner of accounts a copy of the notice given to each beneficiary or, in
the alternative, file a writing with the commissioner stating that the
requirements of this section have been met. For receiving and filing such
notice or writing, the Commissioner shall be allowed a fee not to exceed twenty-five
dollars $25.
B. Language substantially in form and effect as follows will be sufficient to constitute a waiver in the will of the decedent of the trustee's obligation to account: I hereby direct that my trustee(s) shall not be required to file annual accounts with a court as otherwise required by Virginia law.
C. Notwithstanding such
a waiver by in the will of the
decedent or any prior consent of a beneficiary, any such adult beneficiary may,
at any time during the administration of the trust, demand in a writing
delivered to the trustee and to the commissioner of accounts that the trustee
settle annually with the commissioner of accounts. Upon notice of such demand
to the trustee and the commissioner of accounts, such trustee shall file an
account with such commissioner for a period acceptable to the commissioner as
though there were no waiver by the testator. The beneficiary making such demand
may later revoke his demand by a writing delivered to the trustee and the
commissioner of accounts. The demand for settlement of the trustee's account
before the commissioner of accounts may also be made by the personal
representative of a deceased beneficiary whose estate is a beneficiary, an
attorney in fact for a beneficiary, a guardian of an incapacitated beneficiary,
a committee of a convict or insane beneficiary, the duly qualified guardian of
a minor, or if none exists, a custodial parent of a minor or by any minor who
has attained fourteen 14
years of age.
D. Notwithstanding the provisions of this section, any trustee
under a will of a decedent containing the requisite waiver, whenever probated,
shall be relieved of the duty to file an inventory or annual accounts with the
commissioner of accounts if the trustee (i) obtains the written consent of all
adult beneficiaries, other than the trustee, to whom income or principal of the
trust could be currently distributed, after providing those beneficiaries with
the documents and information specified in subsection A,;
and (ii) files those consents with the commissioner on or before the date on
which the inventory or next required accounting would otherwise be due. For
receiving and filing such written consent, the Commissioner shall be allowed a
fee not to exceed twenty-five dollars $25.
E. A court having jurisdiction may order the filing of annual accounts if it deems such filings to be in the best interests of one or more beneficiaries of the trust.