Delaware General Assembly


CHAPTER 199

AN ACT TO AMEND CHAPTER 35, TITLE 12, OF THE DELAWARE CODE, RELATING TO ASSIGNMENTS OF INTERESTS IN SPENDTHRIFT TRUSTS.

Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of Delaware:

Section 1. Section 3536, Title 12, Delaware Code, is amended by adding "(a)" immediately before the existing paragraph of said section so that said paragraph shall be designated subsection (a), and by adding to said section the following subsection:

(b) Notwithstanding the provisions of subsection (a), a beneficiary entitled to receive all or a part of the income of a trust shall have the right to assign gratuitously in writing, at any time or from time to time, a stated fraction or percentage of his entire remaining income interest in such trust to the State of Delaware, or to any corporation, church, community chest, fund or foundation described in Paragraph (5) of Section 1118, Title 30 of the Delaware Code, and such assignment shall be valid and binding on all parties irrespective of any restrictions on assignment contained in the instrument creating or defining the trust; provided, however, that this subsection shall not authorize a beneficiary of such a trust to reduce any part of his income interest which is subject to such restrictions on assignment below 50% of what such interest would be if no assignments were made hereunder. Any interest assigned hereunder, together with a corresponding portion of the corpus of the trust, shall be treated as a separate share and thereafter no provision of the trust permitting invasion of corpus for the benefit of the assignor shall be exercisable with respect to such share.

Section 2. The amendment provided for in Section 1 shall be effective as of the date of enactment of this Act and shall be applicable to all trusts, whether created before, on or after the date of enactment of this Act.

Approved October 1, 1959.