Section 45-2-707 - Survivorship with respect to future interests under terms of trust; substitute takers. - New Mexico Statutes

45-2-707. Survivorship with respect to future interests under terms of trust; substitute takers.

A.     As used in this section:   

(1)     "alternative future interest" means an expressly created future interest that can take effect in possession or enjoyment instead of another future interest on the happening of one or more events, including survival of an event or failure to survive an event, whether an event is expressed in condition-precedent, condition-subsequent or any other form. A residuary clause in a will does not create an alternative future interest with respect to a future interest created in a nonresiduary devise in the will, whether or not the will specifically provides that lapsed or failed devises are to pass under the residuary clause;   

(2)     "beneficiary" means the beneficiary of a future interest and includes a class member if the future interest is in the form of a class gift;   

(3)     "class member" includes an individual who fails to survive the distribution date but who would have taken under a future interest in the form of a class gift had he survived the distribution date;   

(4)     "distribution date", with respect to a future interest, means the time when the future interest is to take effect in possession or enjoyment. The distribution date need not occur at the beginning or end of a calendar day, but can occur at a time during the course of a day;   

(5)     "future interest" includes an alternative future interest and a future interest in the form of a class gift;   

(6)     "future interest under the terms of a trust" means a future interest that was created by a transfer creating a trust or to an existing trust or by an exercise of a power of appointment to an existing trust, directing the continuance of an existing trust, designating a beneficiary of an existing trust or creating a trust; and   

(7)     "surviving beneficiary" or "surviving descendant" means a beneficiary or a descendant who neither predeceased the distribution date nor is deemed to have predeceased the distribution date pursuant to the provisions of Section 45-2-702 NMSA 1978.   

B.     A future interest under the terms of a trust is contingent on the beneficiary's surviving the distribution date.  If a beneficiary of a future interest under the terms of a trust fails to survive the distribution date, the following apply:   

(1)     except as provided in Paragraph (4) of this subsection, if the future interest is not in the form of a class gift and the deceased beneficiary leaves surviving descendants, a substitute gift is created in the beneficiary's surviving descendants.  They take by representation the property to which the beneficiary would have been entitled had the beneficiary survived the distribution date;   

(2)     except as provided in Paragraph (4) of this subsection, if the future interest is in the form of a class gift, other than a future interest to "issue", "descendants", "heirs of the body", "heirs", "next of kin", "relatives" or "family" or a class described by language of similar import, a substitute gift is created in the surviving descendants of any deceased beneficiary. The property to which the beneficiaries would have been entitled had all of them survived the distribution date passes to the surviving beneficiaries and the surviving descendants of the deceased beneficiaries. Each surviving beneficiary takes the share to which he would have been entitled had the deceased beneficiaries survived the distribution date.  Each deceased beneficiary's surviving descendants who are substituted for the ceased [deceased] beneficiary take by representation the share to which the deceased beneficiary would have been entitled had the deceased beneficiary survived the distribution date.  For the purposes of this paragraph, "deceased beneficiary" means a class member who failed to survive the distribution date and left one or more surviving descendants;   

(3)     for the purposes of Section 45-2-701 NMSA 1978, words of survivorship attached to a future interest are not, in the absence of additional evidence, a sufficient indication of an intent contrary to the application of this section.  Words of survivorship include words of survivorship that relate to the distribution date or to an earlier or an unspecified time, whether those words of survivorship are expressed in condition-precedent, condition-subsequent or any other form; and   

(4)     if a governing instrument creates an alternative future interest with respect to a future interest for which a substitute gift is created by Paragraph (1) or (2) of this subsection, the substitute gift is superseded by the alternative future interest only if an expressly designated beneficiary of the alternative future interest is entitled to take in possession or enjoyment.   

C.     If, pursuant to the provisions of Subsection B of this section, substitute gifts are created and not superseded with respect to more than one future interest and the future interests are alternative future interests, one to the other, the determination of which of the substitute gifts takes effect is resolved as follows:   

(1)     except as provided in Paragraph (2) of this subsection, the property passes under the primary substitute gift; and   

(2)     if there is a younger-generation future interest, the property passes under the younger-generation substitute gift and not under the primary substitute gift.   

(3)     As used in this subsection:   

(1)     "primary future interest" means the future interest that would have taken effect had all the deceased beneficiaries of the alternative future interests who left surviving descendants survived the distribution date;   

(2)     "primary substitute gift" means the substitute gift created with respect to the primary future interest;   

(3)     "younger-generation future interest" means a future interest that:   

(a)     is to a descendant of a beneficiary of the primary future interest;   

(b)     is an alternative future interest with respect to the primary future interest;   

(c)     is a future interest for which a substitute gift is created; and   

(d)     would have taken effect had all the deceased beneficiaries who left surviving descendants survived the distribution date except the deceased beneficiary or beneficiaries of the primary future interest; and   

(4)     "younger-generation substitute gift" means the substitute gift created with respect to the younger-generation future interest.   

D.     Except as provided in Subsection E of this section, if after the application of Subsections B and C of this section, there is no surviving taker, the property passes in the following order:   

(1)     if the trust was created in a nonresiduary devise in the transferor's will or in codicil to the transferor's will, the property passes under the residuary clause in the transferor's will; for purposes of this section, the residuary clause is treated as creating a future interest under the terms of a trust; and   

(2)     if no taker is produced by the application of Paragraph (1) of this subsection, the property passes to the transferor's heirs pursuant to the provisions of Section 45-2-711 NMSA 1978.   

E.     If, after the application of Subsections B and C of this section, there is no surviving taker and if the future interest was created by the exercise of a power of appointment:   

(1)     the property passes under the donor's gift-in-default clause, if any, which clause is treated as creating a future interest under the terms of a trust; and   

(2)     if no taker is produced by the application of Paragraph (1) of this subsection, the property passes as provided in Subsection E of this section. For purposes of Subsection E of this section, "transferor" means the donor if the power was a nongeneral power and means the donee if the power was a general power.