35-50-122 - Generation-skipping tax Definitions. - Tennessee Statutes

35-50-122. Generation-skipping tax Definitions.

(a)  As used in this section, unless the context otherwise requires:

     (1)  “Generation-skipping tax” means the generation-skipping transfer tax imposed by chapter 13 of the Internal Revenue Code;

     (2)  “Internal Revenue Code” means the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 and successor provisions and codifications of that Code;

     (3)  “Trust” means any express trust, with additions, wherever and however created, or any separate share of a trust, and includes any arrangement, other than an estate, that, although not a trust, has substantially the same effect as a trust; and

     (4)  “Trustee” means an original, additional or successor trustee, whether or not appointed or confirmed by a court, and, in the case of an arrangement that is not a trust but is treated as a trust for purposes of the generation-skipping tax, includes the person in actual or constructive possession of the property subject to the arrangement.

(b)  A trustee is authorized, but not required, to divide any trust into two (2) or more separate trusts, of equal or unequal value, in order to create one (1) or more trusts entirely exempt from the generation-skipping tax and one (1) or more trusts entirely subject to the generation-skipping tax. Other terms and provisions of both trusts will remain substantially identical in all respects to the original trust.

(c)  The purpose of this section is to authorize a trustee to take appropriate action to preclude or minimize to the extent possible the imposition of the generation-skipping tax, and this section shall be broadly construed to carry out this purpose.

(d)  A trustee may exercise the authority granted in this section without prior approval or leave of any court.

(e)  Any trustee who in good faith acts or fails to act shall not be liable to any person for taking or failing to take any action authorized by this section.

(f)  This section applies to any trust that may be subject to chapter 13 of the Internal Revenue Code.

[Acts 1991, ch. 192, § 1; 1997, ch. 407, § 7; 2004, ch. 866, § 8.]