                                 CODE OF VIRGINIA

DEFINITIONS (§ 64.2-701)

As used in this chapter, unless the context requires a different meaning:
		&#8220;Action,&#8221; with respect to an act of a trustee, includes a failure
to act.
		&#8220;Appointive property&#8221; means the property or property interest
subject to a power of appointment.
		&#8220;Ascertainable standard&#8221; means a standard relating to an
individual&#8217;s health, education, support, or maintenance within the meaning
of § 2041(b)(1)(A) or 2514(c)(1) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 and any
applicable regulations.
		&#8220;Authorized fiduciary&#8221; means (i) a trustee or other fiduciary,
other than a settlor, that has discretion to distribute or direct a trustee to
distribute part or all of the income or principal of the first trust to one or
more current beneficiaries and that is not (a) a current beneficiary of the
first trust or a beneficiary to which the net income or principal of the first
trust would be distributed if the first trust were terminated, (b) a trustee of
the first trust that may be removed and replaced by a current beneficiary who
has the power to remove the existing trustee of the first trust and designate as
successor trustee a person that may be a related or subordinate party, as
defined in 26 U.S.C. § 672(c), with respect to such current beneficiary, or (c)
an individual trustee whose legal obligation to support a beneficiary may be
satisfied by distributions of income and principal of the first trust; (ii) a
special fiduciary appointed under § 64.2-779.6; or (iii) a special-needs
fiduciary under § 64.2-779.10.
		&#8220;Beneficiary&#8221; means a person that (i) has a present or future,
vested or contingent, beneficial interest in a trust; (ii) holds a power of
appointment over trust property; or (iii) is an identified charitable
organization that will or may receive distributions under the terms of the
trust.
		&#8220;Charitable interest&#8221; means an interest in a trust that (i) is
held by an identified charitable organization and makes the organization a
qualified beneficiary; (ii) benefits only charitable organizations and, if the
interest were held by an identified charitable organization, would make the
organization a qualified beneficiary; or (iii) is held solely for charitable
purposes and, if the interest were held by an identified charitable
organization, would make the organization a qualified beneficiary.
		&#8220;Charitable organization&#8221; means (i) a person, other than an
individual, organized and operated exclusively for charitable purposes or (ii) a
government or governmental subdivision, agency, or instrumentality, to the
extent that it holds funds exclusively for a charitable purpose.
		&#8220;Charitable purpose&#8221; means the relief of poverty, the advancement
of education or religion, the promotion of health, a municipal or other
governmental purpose, or another purpose the achievement of which is beneficial
to the community.
		&#8220;Charitable trust&#8221; means a trust, or portion of a trust, created
for a charitable purpose described in § 64.2-723.
		&#8220;Conservator&#8221; means a person appointed by the court to administer
the estate of an adult individual.
		&#8220;Court&#8221; means the court of the Commonwealth having jurisdiction in
matters related to trusts.
		&#8220;Current beneficiary&#8221; means a beneficiary that on the date the
beneficiary&#8217;s qualification is determined is a distributee or permissible
distributee of trust income or principal. &#8220;Current beneficiary&#8221;
includes the holder of a presently exercisable general power of appointment but
does not include a person that is a beneficiary only because the person holds
any other power of appointment.
		&#8220;Decanting power&#8221; means the power of an authorized fiduciary under
the Uniform Trust Decanting Act (§ 64.2-779.1 et seq.) to distribute property
of a first trust to one or more second trusts or to modify the terms of the
first trust.
		&#8220;Directed trustee&#8221; means a trustee that is subject to a trust
director&#8217;s power of direction.
		&#8220;Electronic&#8221; means relating to technology having electrical,
digital, magnetic, wireless, optical, electromagnetic, or similar capabilities.
		&#8220;Environmental law&#8221; means a federal, state, or local law, rule,
regulation, or ordinance relating to protection of the environment.
		&#8220;Expanded distributive discretion&#8221; means a discretionary power of
distribution that is not limited to an ascertainable standard or a reasonably
definite standard.
		&#8220;First trust&#8221; means a trust over which an authorized fiduciary may
exercise the decanting power.
		&#8220;First-trust instrument&#8221; means the trust instrument for a first
trust.
		&#8220;General power of appointment&#8221; means a power of appointment
exercisable in favor of a powerholder, the powerholder&#8217;s estate, a
creditor of the powerholder, or a creditor of the powerholder&#8217;s estate.
		&#8220;Guardian&#8221; means a person appointed by the court to make decisions
regarding the support, care, education, health, and welfare of a minor or adult
individual. The term does not include a guardian ad litem.
		&#8220;Guardian of the estate&#8221; means a person appointed by the court to
administer the estate of a minor.
		&#8220;Interests of the beneficiaries&#8221; means the beneficial interests
provided in the terms of the trust.
		&#8220;Jurisdiction,&#8221; with respect to a geographic area, includes a
state or country.
		&#8220;Person&#8221; means an individual; estate; business or nonprofit
entity; government; governmental subdivision, agency, or instrumentality; public
corporation; or other legal entity.
		&#8220;Powerholder&#8221; means a person in which a donor creates a power of
appointment.
		&#8220;Power of appointment&#8221; means a power that enables a powerholder
acting in a nonfiduciary capacity to designate a recipient of an ownership
interest in or another power of appointment over the appointive property.
&#8220;Power of appointment&#8221; does not include a power of attorney.
		&#8220;Power of direction&#8221; means a power over a trust granted to a
person by the terms of the trust to the extent the power is exercisable while
the person is not serving as a trustee. The term includes a power over the
investment, management, or distribution of trust property or other matters of
trust administration. The term excludes the powers described in subsection A of
§ 64.2-779.28.
		&#8220;Power of withdrawal&#8221; means a presently exercisable general power
of appointment other than a power exercisable by a trustee that is limited by an
ascertainable standard, or that is exercisable by another person only upon
consent of the trustee or a person holding an adverse interest.
		&#8220;Presently exercisable power of appointment&#8221; means a power of
appointment exercisable by the powerholder at the relevant time.
&#8220;Presently exercisable power of appointment&#8221; includes a power of
appointment exercisable only after the occurrence of a specified event, the
satisfaction of an ascertainable standard, or the passage of a specified time,
only after (i) the occurrence of the specified event, (ii) the satisfaction of
the ascertainable standard, or (iii) the passage of the specified time.
&#8220;Presently exercisable power of appointment&#8221; does not include a
power exercisable only at the powerholder&#8217;s death.
		&#8220;Property&#8221; means anything that may be the subject of ownership,
whether real or personal, legal or equitable, or any interest therein.
		&#8220;Qualified beneficiary&#8221; means a beneficiary who, on the date the
beneficiary&#8217;s qualification is determined, (i) is a distributee or
permissible distributee of trust income or principal; (ii) would be a
distributee or permissible distributee of trust income or principal if the
interests of the distributees described in clause (i) terminated on that date
without causing the trust to terminate; or (iii) would be a distributee or
permissible distributee of trust income or principal if the trust terminated on
that date.
		&#8220;Reasonably definite standard&#8221; means a clearly measurable standard
under which a holder of a power of distribution is legally accountable within
the meaning of § 674(b)(5)(A) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 and any
applicable regulations.
		&#8220;Record&#8221; means information that is inscribed on a tangible medium
or that is stored in an electronic or other medium and is retrievable in
perceivable form.
		&#8220;Revocable,&#8221; as applied to a trust, means revocable by the settlor
without the consent of the trustee or a person holding an adverse interest.
		&#8220;Second trust&#8221; means (i) a first trust after modification,
including a restatement of the first trust, under the Uniform Trust Decanting
Act (§ 64.2-779.1 et seq.) or (ii) a trust to which a distribution of property
from a first trust is or may be made under the Uniform Trust Decanting Act (§
64.2-779.1 et seq.).
		&#8220;Second-trust instrument&#8221; means the trust instrument for a second
trust.
		&#8220;Settlor,&#8221; except as otherwise provided in § 64.2-779.22, means a
person, including a testator, who creates or contributes property to a trust. If
more than one person creates or contributes property to a trust, each person is
a settlor of the portion of the trust property attributable to that
person&#8217;s contribution except to the extent another person has the power to
revoke or withdraw that portion.
		&#8220;Sign&#8221; means, with present intent to authenticate or adopt a
record, (i) to execute or adopt a tangible symbol or (ii) to attach to or
logically associate with the record an electronic symbol, sound, or process.
		&#8220;Spendthrift provision&#8221; means a term of a trust that restrains
both voluntary and involuntary transfer of a beneficiary&#8217;s interest.
		&#8220;State&#8221; means a state of the United States, the District of
Columbia, Puerto Rico, the United States Virgin Islands, or any territory or
insular possession subject to the jurisdiction of the United States. The term
includes an Indian tribe or band recognized by federal law or formally
acknowledged by a state.
		&#8220;Terms of a trust&#8221; means:

1. Except as otherwise provided in subdivision 2, the manifestation of the
settlor&#8217;s intent regarding a trust&#8217;s provisions as (i) expressed in
the trust instrument or (ii) established by other evidence that would be
admissible in a judicial proceeding; or

2. The trust&#8217;s provisions as established, determined, or amended by (i) a
trustee or trust director in accordance with applicable law, (ii) court order,
or (iii) a nonjudicial settlement agreement under &#xA7; 64.2-709.
			&#8220;Trust director&#8221; means a person that is granted a power of
direction by the terms of a trust to the extent the power is exercisable while
the person is not serving as a trustee. The person is a trust director whether
or not the terms of the trust refer to the person as a trust director and
whether or not the person is a beneficiary or settlor of the trust.
			&#8220;Trust instrument&#8221; means a record signed by the settlor to create
a trust or by any person to create a second trust that contains some or all of
the terms of the trust, including any amendments.
			&#8220;Trustee&#8221; includes an original, additional, and successor trustee
and a cotrustee.

HISTORY: 2005, c. 935, § 55-541.03; 2012, c. 614; 2017, c. 592; 2018, c. 476;
2020, c. 768; 2025, c. 74.