2018 Connecticut General Statutes
Title 45a - Probate Courts and Procedure
Chapter 802c - Trusts
Section 45a-542q - Deferred compensation, annuities and similar payments. Separate funds.

(a) In this section:

(1) “Payment” means a payment that a trustee may receive over a fixed number of years or during the life of one or more individuals because of services rendered or property transferred to the payer in exchange for future payments. “Payment” includes a payment made in money or property from the payer's general assets or from a separate fund created by the payer. For the purposes of subsections (d) to (g), inclusive, of this section, “payment” also includes any payment from any separate fund, regardless of the reason for the payment.

(2) “Separate fund” includes a private or commercial annuity, an individual retirement account and a pension, profit-sharing, stock-bonus or stock-ownership plan. “Separate fund” does not include a payment pursuant to an installment sale contract.

(b) To the extent that a payment is characterized as interest or a dividend or a payment made in lieu of interest or a dividend, a trustee shall allocate the payment to income. The trustee shall allocate to principal the balance of the payment and any other payment received in the same accounting period that is not characterized as interest, a dividend or an equivalent payment.

(c) If no part of a payment is characterized as interest, a dividend or an equivalent payment, and all or part of the payment is required to be made, a trustee shall allocate to income ten per cent of the part that is required to be made during the accounting period and the balance to principal. If no part of a payment is required to be made or the payment received is the entire amount to which the trustee is entitled, the trustee shall allocate the entire payment to principal. For purposes of this subsection, a payment is not “required to be made” to the extent that it is made because the trustee exercises a right of withdrawal.

(d) Except as otherwise provided in subsection (e) of this section, subsections (f) and (g) of this section apply, and subsections (b) and (c) of this section do not apply, in determining the allocation of a payment made from a separate fund to:

(1) A trust to which an election to qualify for a marital deduction would be allowed under Section 2056(b)(7) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, or any subsequent corresponding internal revenue code of the United States, as amended from time to time; or

(2) A trust that qualifies for the marital deduction under Section 2056(b)(5) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, or any subsequent corresponding internal revenue code of the United States, as amended from time to time.

(e) Subsections (d), (f) and (g) of this section do not apply if and to the extent that the series of payments would, without the application of subsection (d) of this section, qualify for the marital deduction under Section 2056(b)(7)(C) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, or any subsequent corresponding internal revenue code of the United States, as amended from time to time.

(f) A trustee shall determine the internal income of each separate fund for the accounting period as if the separate fund were a trust subject to this section. On request of the surviving spouse, the trustee shall demand that the person administering the separate fund distribute the internal income to the trust. The trustee shall allocate a payment from the separate fund to income to the extent of the internal income of the separate fund and distribute that amount to the surviving spouse. The trustee shall allocate the balance of the payment to principal. On request of the surviving spouse, the trustee shall allocate principal to income to the extent the internal income of the separate fund exceeds payments made from the separate fund to the trust during the accounting period.

(g) If a trustee cannot determine the internal income of a separate fund but can determine the value of the separate fund, the internal income of the separate fund is deemed to equal four per cent of the fund's value, according to the most recent statement of value preceding the beginning of the accounting period. If the trustee can determine neither the internal income of the separate fund nor the fund's value, the internal income of the fund is deemed to equal the product of the interest rate and the present value of the expected future payments, as determined under Section 7520 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, or any subsequent corresponding internal revenue code of the United States, as amended from time to time, for the month preceding the account period for which the computation is made.

(h) This section does not apply to a payment to which section 45a-542r applies.

(i) The provisions of this section apply to a trust described in subsection (d) of this section on and after the following dates:

(1) If the trust is not funded as of October 1, 2010, the date of the decedent's death.

(2) If the trust is initially funded in the calendar year beginning January 1, 2010, the date of the decedent's death.

(3) If the trust is not described in subdivision (1) or (2) of this subsection, the date of January 1, 2010.

(P.A. 99-164, S. 18, 36; P.A. 10-31, S. 1.)

History: P.A. 99-164 effective January 1, 2000; P.A. 10-31 amended Subsec. (a) to redefine “payment” in Subdiv. (1) and define “separate fund” in Subdiv. (2), amended Subsec. (d) to replace former provisions re allocation necessary to obtain marital deduction with provisions re determining allocation of payment from separate fund, inserted new Subsec. (e) re applicability of Subsecs. (d), (f) and (g), inserted Subsec. (f) re trustee's determination of internal income of each separate fund, inserted Subsec. (g) re amount deemed internal income when trustee cannot determine internal income of a separate fund, redesignated existing Subsec. (e) as Subsec. (h), inserted Subsec. (i) re dates when section applies to trust described in Subsec. (d), and made technical changes.