Wills Trusts and Estates Flashcards

Under Delaware's Qualified Dispositions in Trust Act, most creditors must sue to reach assets in a Delaware asset protection trust within what period after the transfer?

Answer: Four years

Creditors generally must bring a fraudulent-transfer claim within four years of the qualified disposition, or one year after discovery for existing creditors.

A Delaware directed trust names an investment adviser with exclusive authority over investments. What is the administrative trustee's liability for following the adviser's directions?

Answer: Liability only for willful misconduct in following directions

Under 12 Del. C. § 3313, a directed trustee following an adviser's binding direction is liable only for its own willful misconduct.

Delaware's decanting statute permits a trustee with discretionary distribution authority to do what?

Answer: Appoint trust principal into a new trust with modified terms for one or more of the same beneficiaries

Under 12 Del. C. § 3528, a trustee with invasion power may pour assets into a second trust for the benefit of one or more of the original beneficiaries.

Which parties may modify a Delaware trust through a nonjudicial settlement agreement?

Answer: All interested persons, so long as the agreement does not violate a material purpose of the trust

Delaware permits interested persons to resolve trust matters by nonjudicial settlement agreement if it does not violate a material purpose of the trust and includes terms a court could approve.

A Delaware spendthrift clause in a third-party trust generally has what effect?

Answer: It bars beneficiaries' creditors from reaching trust interests before distribution

Delaware gives full effect to spendthrift provisions, preventing creditors from attaching a beneficiary's interest until assets are actually distributed.

Delaware permits a 'silent trust,' which is best described as a trust that does what?

Answer: Restricts or delays the trustee's duty to inform beneficiaries of the trust's existence or terms for a period

Delaware allows the governing instrument to limit the trustee's duty to inform beneficiaries for a designated period, such as until a beneficiary reaches a certain age.

In Delaware, who bears the initial burden of proof in a will contest alleging undue influence?

Answer: The contestant, unless a presumption shifts the burden, as where a fiduciary drafted a will benefiting himself

The contestant ordinarily must prove undue influence, but the burden can shift when circumstances such as a confidential relationship with a weakened testator raise a presumption.