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Trust Law/Level VIII · Trusts of the world/8.1 Common-law systems/Lesson 1

United States: the Uniform Trust Code

What the Uniform Trust Code is, where it applies, which of its rules a trust can change, how its articles are arranged, and what states without it use.

Education, not legal advice. Trust law changes from country to country and state to state, and the right structure depends on your situation. Anything you sign should be drafted or reviewed by a qualified lawyer where you live.

The lean path

The cheapest, lowest-tax, simplest and most private route the law allows, best first. Each step names the rule it rests on and the condition that keeps it lawful.

  1. A revocable trust is the cheapest default: UTC states and California presume revocability (UTC §602; Cal. Prob. Code §15400), and it can report under the settlor’s own number with no Form 1041 (Treas. Reg. §1.671-4(b)). Catch: at death it needs its own EIN.
  2. Use the code’s defaults to cut cost: no trustee bond unless a court finds one needed or the terms require it (§702), and a certification of trust can replace the full instrument (§1013). Catch: §105(b) mandatory rules, such as good faith, cannot be drafted away.
  3. Fix problems without court: interested persons may sign a binding nonjudicial settlement agreement on interpretation, accounts, trustee pay or moving the trust (UTC §111). Catch: it must not violate a material purpose and binds only those who sign or are properly represented.
  4. Lawful family privacy: while the settlor lives, a revocable trust’s information duties are owed to the settlor alone (Maine 18-B §813(6)), and any beneficiary may waive reports (§813(4)). Catch: model §105(b) keeps notice to qualified beneficiaries aged 25 or older mandatory; states vary.
  5. No federal ownership filing: FinCEN’s interim final rule of 26 March 2025 exempts US-created entities and US persons from beneficial-ownership reporting. Catch: the trust’s income is still reported to the IRS every year, by the grantor or on Form 1041.

MaterialsThe Uniform Law Commission’s Trust Code page (uniformlaws.org), with the final act and enactment informationA state enactment of the UTC, such as Maine’s Title 18-B (legislature.maine.gov), to see the articles as chaptersLessons 1.3.6 and 3.1.1, on revocable trusts and UTC §602, and lesson 4.3.7, on reporting to beneficiaries

Wonder

  1. Why would lawyers write a model trust law that each state can choose whether to adopt?
  2. Which trust rules can a trust’s terms change, and which apply whatever the terms say?
  3. What law governs trusts in a state that has not adopted the Uniform Trust Code?

Explore

  1. The Uniform Trust Code (UTC) is a model law approved by the Uniform Law Commission (ULC) in 2000. It gathered into one statute rules that had rested largely on case law and the Restatements of Trusts. A model law has no force until a state enacts it, and states often change it. The UTC has been enacted in some form in about 36 states plus the District of Columbia; Oklahoma’s version took effect on 1 November 2025. It superseded Article VII of the Uniform Probate Code (1969). This lesson surveys the code; it does not advise on any trust.
  2. Most UTC rules are default rules. Under §105(a), the code governs the trustee’s duties and powers and the beneficiaries’ rights except as the terms of the trust provide otherwise. Section 105(b) lists the rules that the terms cannot override, including the requirements for creating a trust; the trustee’s duty to act in good faith and in accordance with the trust’s terms and purposes and the beneficiaries’ interests; the requirement that the trust be for the beneficiaries’ benefit, with a lawful and possible purpose; the court’s powers to modify or end a trust; the effect of a spendthrift provision; the limits on exculpation clauses; and limitation periods. States have changed this list.
  3. Two §105(b) items concern information: the duty to notify qualified beneficiaries of an irrevocable trust who are aged 25 or older of the trust’s existence and their right to reports, and the duty to respond to their requests for reports (lesson 4.3.7); many states altered these. The detailed duty of loyalty in §802 is not on the list, but the duty of good faith is. Under §1008, a term relieving a trustee of liability cannot protect a breach committed in bad faith or with reckless indifference to the trust’s purposes or the beneficiaries’ interests.
  4. The code has 11 articles: 1, general provisions and definitions; 2, judicial proceedings; 3, representation; 4, creation, validity, modification and termination; 5, creditors’ claims and spendthrift and discretionary trusts; 6, revocable trusts; 7, the office of trustee; 8, duties and powers of the trustee; 9, a place for the Uniform Prudent Investor Act (1994); 10, liability of trustees and rights of persons dealing with them; and 11, miscellaneous provisions such as the effective date and repeals. States usually keep the numbering, so model §802 is §802 of Maine’s Title 18-B.
  5. A few sections show how the code works. Under §602, a trust created after a state adopts the UTC is revocable unless its terms say it is irrevocable, reversing the older common-law presumption (lesson 1.3.6). Under §505, a revocable trust’s property is subject to the settlor’s creditors during the settlor’s lifetime (lesson 3.1.1). Article 8 sets out duties such as loyalty (§802), impartiality (§803), prudent administration (§804), delegation (§807) and informing and reporting (§813), and Article 10 covers remedies for breach of trust (§1001) and damages (§1002).
  6. States that have not adopted the UTC use their own statutes and case law. New York’s trust law is mainly in its Estates, Powers and Trusts Law (EPTL); California’s is in its Probate Code, which, like the UTC, treats a trust as revocable unless it says otherwise (§15400); Texas has the Texas Trust Code in its Property Code. Even among UTC states, versions differ, and many have added later uniform acts, such as the Uniform Trust Decanting Act (2015) and the Uniform Directed Trust Act (2017). The current statute of the relevant state is the authority.

Key facts

  • The Uniform Law Commission approved the Uniform Trust Code in 2000; about 36 states plus DC have enacted it in some form, Oklahoma’s from 1 November 2025.
  • Under UTC §105, most of the code’s rules are defaults that the terms of a trust can change.
  • UTC §105(b) lists rules the terms cannot override, such as the duty to act in good faith and the court’s power to modify or end a trust.
  • The UTC has 11 articles; Article 8 covers the trustee’s duties and powers and Article 10 trustees’ liability.
  • Under UTC §602, a trust created after a state adopts the code is revocable unless its terms say it is irrevocable.
  • States without the UTC include New York (Estates, Powers and Trusts Law), California (Probate Code) and Texas (Texas Trust Code).

Exercise nine, six, three, one

9CollectList up to 9 rules from a state’s trust code or this lesson (some sources give fewer), such as the rule on revocability, the duty to inform, the duty of loyalty and the limits on exculpation clauses.
6ClusterSort them into 6 categories: creating a trust, creditors, revocable trusts, trustee duties, trustee liability, and facts you are unsure about.
3DistillReduce the 6 categories to 3 groups: mandatory rules, default rules the terms can change, and rules that differ by state.
1CrystallizeWrite 1 sentence explaining, in your own words, the difference between a default rule and a mandatory rule in the Uniform Trust Code.

Fact check

Dates, figures and claims checked against the published sources listed below.

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