However, even where the payment of principal is not allowed, some trustees can nevertheless increase the distribution based on the power to adjust contained in
UPIA Section 104.
"Wasting beneficiaries' money is imprudent," reads a blunt warning in the commentary to section seven of the
UPIA. From that perspective, institutional-class passive strategies offer fiduciaries excellent cost control.
Accountants who are ILIT trustees must be aware that the
UPIA holds them to the same standards as trustees of investment trusts.
In this scenario, in determining trust income under
UPIA Section 104(a), the trustee must determine trust income of the non-IRA assets of the mist separately from the trust income of the IRA assets.
The state having jurisdiction over T has adopted the
UPIA. Under
UPIA Section 401(b), a trustee is required to allocate funds received from a partnership to income.
In addition, the Guide will give the practitioner an understanding of some of the challenges posed when dealing with the
UPIA's "power to adjust" and the "unitrast" provisions adopted by several states.
Under
UPIA Section 104, a power to adjust allows the trustee to transfer amounts between trust income and principal, so that both classes of beneficiaries are allocated reasonable amounts of the total return (including both traditional income and capital appreciation) when a trust invests under the "prudent investor" rule.
The
UPIA's centerpiece is the "power to adjust." It allows a disinterested trustee (4) to adjust from income to principal, or principal to income, if the trustee determines that traditional fiduciary accounting income provides too much or too little income for an income beneficiary after taking into account, among other things, the grantor's intentions, the trust's investments and the adjustment's anticipated tax consequences.
If the document does not so provide and the trustee looks to the practitioner for help, the practitioner can suggest separate accounting by the IRA trustee or custodian, or can assist in determining the proper allocation pursuant to the applicable state's version of the
UPIA.
These changes will affect all simple trusts, all complex trusts using trust income as a benchmark, and all qualified terminable interest property (QTIP) marital deduction trusts (1) in states that have adopted versions of the
UPIA or (2) governed by the terms of a document that contains a power to adjust or a unitrust amount: They will also affect any charitable remainder unitrust (CRUT) in a state that has adopted a default unitrust definition of income (such as the New York proposal, before its recent amendment).(4) This article will analyze the proposed regulations and offer practical suggestions to trustees and their advisers.
Its core product is
UPIA, which stands for "Unsecured Private Immediate Affordable".