§ 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 Division of the Superior 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; amended 2009, No. 154 (Adj. Sess.), § 236, eff. February 1, 2011.)