Summary of Bill:

Various changes are made to numerous provisions of the law governing trusts and estates. Definitions are provided for "qualified beneficiary" and "permissible distributee," and various provisions are amended to incorporate these terms, including in sections governing the persons to whom certain notices must be given or from whom certain consents must be obtained.

Personal Representatives and Trustees.

A nonprofit corporation is authorized to serve as a personal representative if the articles of incorporation or bylaws of the nonprofit corporation permit the action. State or regional colleges or universities and community or technical colleges are authorized to serve as trustees.

Acceptance of Trusteeship.

Standards for a trustee to accept or decline a trusteeship are established. A person designated as trustee accepts the trusteeship by substantially complying with the method of acceptance under the terms of the trust. If the terms of the trust do not provide a method of acceptance, or the method provided is not exclusive, the trusteeship is accepted by exercising powers or performing duties as trustee, or by otherwise indicating acceptance.

A person designated as trustee may decline the trusteeship by delivering a written declination to the trustor, or a successor trustee if the trustor is deceased or incapacitated. A person designated as trustee may take certain action with respect to the trust property, without accepting the trusteeship, under certain conditions.

Trustee's Duty to Give Notice.

The trustor may waive the requirement that the trustee give notice of the existence of an irrevocable trust to all qualified beneficiaries if the waiver is made in the trust document or in a separate writing delivered to the trustee. The specific list of report information that is presumed to keep a qualified beneficiary informed about the administration of a trust is eliminated.

Unless waived or modified, a trustee may not be required to provide information to any beneficiary of a trust other than the trustor's spouse or domestic partner if: the spouse or domestic partner has capacity; the spouse or domestic partner is the only permissible distribute of the trust; and all other qualified beneficiaries are the descendants of the trustor and the trustor's spouse or domestic partner.

While the trustor of a revocable trust is living, only the trustor is entitled to receive information about the administration of a trust.

Trust Situs.

Standards for determining trust situs when the trust does not designate any jurisdiction as the situs, or designate any jurisdiction's governing law as applying to the trust, are clarified. In this circumstance, Washington is the situs of the trust if situs has not previously been established in any court proceeding and additional conditions specified in statute are met.

Consolidation of Trusts.

Standards for consolidating trusts upon consent of all qualified beneficiaries are revised. The trustee must provide 60-day advance written notice of the proposed consolidation to all qualified beneficiaries. The notice must provide that the recipient has 30 days to object to the proposed consolidation. If the trustee does not receive any objection within the 30-day period, the trustee may consolidate the trusts, and the consolidation is deemed the equivalent of a court order declaring the trusts were combined as provided in the notice.

Statute of Limitations.

The method of delivery of the report to a beneficiary that starts the running of the statute of limitations for a breach of trust claim is specified. The report may be delivered to the beneficiary by personal service or by mailing, or by electronic transmission if the beneficiary has previously consented in a record to receiving notice by electronic transmission. The report adequately discloses the existence of a potential claim if it provides sufficient information so that the beneficiary knows or should have known of the potential claim.

The information required to be provided in a notice to a person in order to start the running of the statute of limitations for commencement of a proceeding to contest the validity of a revocable trust is clarified. The notice must include the name and date of the trust; the identity of the trustor or trustors; the trustee's name, address, and telephone number; and a notice of the time allowed for commencing a proceeding.

Virtual Representation.

Modifications are made to provisions governing the virtual representation of another party. A guardian of the person may represent and bind an incapacitated person if a guardian of the incapacitated person's estate has not been appointed. A parent may represent and bind a minor or unborn child or children if no guardian has been appointed. The attorney general may virtually represent and bind a charitable organization under certain circumstances.

A minor, incapacitated, or unborn individual, or a person whose identity or location is unknown and not ascertainable, may be represented and bound by another person having a substantially identical interest as long as there is no conflict of interest between the representative and the person represented.

A trustor may not represent and bind a beneficiary with respect to termination or modification of an irrevocable trust. Representation of an incapacitated trustor with regard to his or her powers over a trust is subject to laws governing trustor powers, guardianship, power of attorney, and trust and estate dispute resolution.

Notice to a person who may represent and bind another person under the virtual representation statute has the same effect as if notice were given directly to the other person. The consent of a person who may represent and bind another person is binding on the person represented unless the person represented objects before the consent becomes effective.

Reform of a Will or Trust.

The section providing that the terms of a will or trust may be reformed using binding non-judicial procedures upon clear, cogent, and convincing evidence are eliminated, and instead it is provided that the terms of a will or trust may be reformed according to the standards for binding non-judicial procedures.

Special Representatives.

Provisions governing the appointment of a special representative to represent the interests of a minor, incapacitated person, or person who is yet unborn or unascertained, are revised to allow any party, or the parent of a minor or unborn child, to petition for appointment, rather than just the personal representative or trustee.

Miscellaneous.

Trusts that are created by a judgment or decree of a federal court or state superior court are made subject the Trustee's Accounting Act. A provision superseded by a statute enacted in 2011 is repealed. Various provisions of the trust laws are reorganized, statutory references are updated, and conforming amendments are made.

Applicability.

The act applies to all trusts created before, on, or after January 1, 2013, and all judicial proceedings concerning trusts commenced on or after that date. Any action taken before January 1, 2013, is not affected by the act.

If a right is acquired, extinguished, or barred upon the expiration of a prescribed period that has commenced under any other statute before January 1, 2013, that statute continues to apply to the right even if it has been repealed or superseded.