ENROLLED
Senate Bill No. 24
(By Senators Wooton, Anderson, Bowman, Buckalew, Deem,
Dittmar, Grubb, Miller, Oliverio, Ross, Schoonover,
Scott, White and Yoder)
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[Passed March 9, 1995; in effect ninety days from passage.]
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AN ACT to amend article five-a, chapter forty-four of the code
of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as
amended, by adding thereto a new section, designated
section four, relating to the termination of trusts in
certain circumstances.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That article five-a, chapter forty-four of the code of West
Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, be
amended by adding thereto a new section, designated section
four, to read as follows:
ARTICLE 5A. POWERS OF FIDUCIARIES.
§44-5A-4. Termination of trusts valued at less than fifty
thousand dollars; spendthrift and other protective trusts
for incompetents and children.
(a) Upon application of a trustee of a trust with assets
valued at less than fifty thousand dollars, the principal of
which is not distributable until some future time, a circuit
court having in rem jurisdiction over the corpus of the trust
may order that the trust be terminated upon a finding that the
continued existence of the trust is no longer economically
beneficial or practical because, relative to the costs of
administering the trust or because of an existing economic
circumstance that directly threatens the solvency, financial
integrity or monetary value of such trust, continuance of the
trust pursuant to its existing terms will defeat or
substantially impair the accomplishment of its purposes.
(b) Notwithstanding the provisions of subsection (a) of
this section to the contrary, the court may not, pursuant to
said subsection, order the termination of a spendthrift or other
protective trust which exists for the benefit of one or more
incompetents or minors in the absence of the court's further finding that there exists or will exist upon the termination of
such trust an adequate alternative protective device or
provision for the management of the trust assets and protection
of the primary beneficiary or beneficiaries for whom the trust
was created.
(c) Upon the entry of an order that the trust be terminated
pursuant to the provisions of this section, the trustee shall,
at least fourteen days prior to the date upon which the trustee
proposes to terminate the trust, file with the court such
accounting of the activities and assets of the trust as may be
directed by the court and serve a copy thereof upon the parties
to the action and such other persons that may be affected by the
termination of the trust. Upon the court's review of the
accounting, the court may enter an order approving the
accounting and the terms of the termination of the trust
proposed by the trustee or may enter such other order as the
court may deem appropriate in the action.