§ 418 - Intentional and unlawful killing; termination of interest in trust - Vermont Statutes

§ 418. Intentional and unlawful killing; termination of interest in trust

(a) A person who commits an intentional and unlawful killing shall forfeit an interest in a trust:

(1) to the extent the trust was funded by the victim of the intentional and unlawful killing or would be funded by the victim's estate;

(2) to the extent the person's interest in the trust is augmented or advanced by the termination of the victim's interest in the trust as the result of the person's intentional and unlawful killing of the victim, and the interest is attributable to funding by someone other than the person or the victim of the intentional and unlawful killing;

(3) if the interest was created as the result of an exercise of a power of appointment held by the victim.

(b) An interest in a trust that is forfeited under subsection (a) of this section shall be administered and distributed in accordance with the terms of the trust as if the person whose interest is forfeited died on the date of the intentional and unlawful killing.

(c) A person who commits an intentional and unlawful killing shall be removed as trustee of a trust:

(1) that was funded by the victim of the intentional and unlawful killing or would be funded by the victim's estate;

(2) in which the person's interest in the trust is augmented or advanced by the termination of the victim's interest in the trust as the result of the person's intentional and unlawful killing of the victim, and the interest is attributable to funding by someone other than the person or the victim of the intentional and unlawful killing.

(d) For purposes of this section, the record of a conviction of a person for an intentional and unlawful killing of another shall be conclusive evidence that the person committed an intentional and unlawful killing of the other person.

(e) In the absence of a final judgment of conviction, a beneficiary or trustee of a trust may petition the probate court for a determination, or the court may on its own initiative determine, that the interest of a person who commits an intentional and unlawful killing has been forfeited under subsection (a) of this section, or that a person should be removed as trustee under subsection (c) of this section.

(f) This section shall apply to any interest in a trust that is or will be distributed on or after January 1, 2009. (Added 2009, No. 55, § 9.)