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Ohio Trust Code Update: Recent Developments, Alan Newman

Akron Law Faculty Publications

This article is based on the author’s presentations at the 20th Annual Estate Planning Conference on Wealth Transfer in Columbus on June 26, 2009.

Since its enactment in 2006, effective January 1, 2007, the Ohio Trust Code (“OTC”) has been amended, a number of cases have been decided under it, and a variety of issues related to or raised by it have been identified. This article will review those developments.

Copyright Acknowledgment: This material is reprinted from the Probate Law Journal of Ohio with permission of Thomson Reuters. Copyright permission is on file.

The Uniform Trust Code: An Analysis Of Ohio's Version, Alan Newman

Akron Law Faculty Publications

THE UNIFORM TRUST CODE: AN ANALYSIS OF OHIO'S VERSION

The Uniform Trust Code (UTC), which was promulgated in 2000, is the first national codification of the law of trusts. It has been adopted, with modifications, in 19 jurisdictions and is under consideration for adoption in many others. The Ohio Trust Code (OTC), which includes many significant modifications from the UTC, was enacted in June 2006, with an effective date of January 1, 2007.

The OTC is the product of extensive study of the UTC by a joint committee of members of the Estate Planning, Trust, and Probate Law Section of …

Report On Hb 416: The Ohio Trust Code As Enacted, Alan Newman

Akron Law Faculty Publications

Report on HB 416: The Ohio Trust Code As Enacted

This Report begins with a discussion of policy considerations related to the 2007 enactment of the Ohio Trust Code (OTC). Next, it discusses how the OTC will be incorporated into the Ohio Revised Code. The Report then discusses many of the OTC’s provisions, in the same order as those provisions are included in the OTC. The focus of the discussion of OTC provisions is on those that will change existing Ohio law, or that are changes from the Uniform Trust Code (UTC). Thus, the Report does not provide a general …

Modification And Termination Of Irrevocable Trusts Under The Ohio Uniform Trust Code, Alan Newman, Jamie R. Minor

Akron Law Faculty Publications

The adoption of the Ohio Uniform Trust Code (the “OUTC” or “the Code”) will constitute a comprehensive codification of trust law in Ohio. Among the many subjects it covers are the modification and termination of trusts. As noted in a comment to the national Uniform Trust Code (the “UTC”), “the overall objective of these [modification and termination] sections is to enhance flexibility consistent with the principle that preserving the settlor’s intent is paramount.” Given such factors as the increased use of trusts in recent years (including trusts created by non-lawyers and lawyers who do not specialize in estate planning); the …

The Intention Of The Settlor Under The Uniform Trust Code: Whose Property Is It, Anyway?, Alan Newman

Akron Law Faculty Publications

The Intention of the Settlor Under the Uniform Trust Code: Whose Property Is It, Anyway?

The question of the extent to which the owner of property may transfer it gratuitously, subject to enforceable restrictions on alienability and use, has a long history. To protect the living from control by the dead, as well as the alienability of property, the law traditionally has refused to enforce some such restrictions. Opposing those interests, however, is the interest in respecting the freedom of the owner of property to dispose of it subject to whatever restrictions he or she chooses to impose.

The Uniform …

Codify -- Not Modify: Creditor Remedies And The Ohio Uniform Trust Code, Alan Newman, Richard E. Davis

Akron Law Faculty Publications

In a number of states that have considered the Uniform Trust Code (“UTC”), Article 5, "Creditor’s Claims; Spendthrift And Discretionary Trusts," has become a flash point of controversy. The prefatory note to the UTC states that much of the UTC is a codification of the common law of trusts, but that it also introduces a number of innovative provisions. UTC critics, on the one hand, claim that more than a hundred years of common law have been tossed aside, giving creditors greatly expanded abilities to reach through once impenetrable barriers that previously protected trust beneficiaries, while supporters, on the other …

The Rights Of Creditors Of Beneficiaries Under The Uniform Trust Code: An Examination Of The Compromise, Alan Newman

Akron Law Faculty Publications

The Rights of Creditors of Beneficiaries under the Uniform Trust Code: An Examination of the Compromise

The new Uniform Trust Code (the “UTC”), which recently has been introduced in the District of Columbia and six states but has not yet been enacted in any jurisdiction, is described in its prefatory note as “the first comprehensive national codification of the law of trusts.” According to its Reporter:

Crafting the provisions of Article 5 on spendthrift protection and the rights of a beneficiary’s creditors to reach the trust proved to be the most difficult task in drafting the Act. The area is …