Trust Decanting Requirements in Arizona
At a glance
| Governing law and available decanting route | A.R.S. § 14-10819, “trustee's special power to appoint to other trust.” Trustee appoints part/all trust property to trustee of another trust; all- property exercise may be by restating first instrument. Exercise is special power of appointment, not Uniform Trust Decanting Act (§ 14-10819(A),(C),(E)) |
|---|---|
| First-trust scope, state connection, retroactivity, and opt-out | Testamentary instrument or irrevocable inter vivos agreement governed by Arizona law, including after governing-jurisdiction transfer. Express contrary trust terms control. No creation-date, retroactivity, administration- place, or anti-evasion rule stated (§ 14-10819(A)-(B)) |
| Authorized fiduciary and required distribution power | Trustee with discretion under instrument to make distributions to/for a trust beneficiary, whether or not instrument supplies a standard; may appoint part/all property. No settlor-, beneficiary-, cotrustee-, resignation-, or special-fiduciary exclusion stated; interested trustee faces ascertainable- standard limit (§ 14-10819(A)(4)) |
| Expanded, limited, mandatory, and ascertainable-standard branches | No expanded/limited/mandatory tiers. Any discretionary distribution power qualifies regardless of stated standard; if exercising trustee is possible beneficiary under ascertainable standard, recipient-trust standard must be same or more restrictive. Mandatory authority alone not listed (§ 14-10819(A),(A)(4)) |
| Beneficiary, vested-interest, and power-of-appointment changes | Exercise must be “in favor of the beneficiaries of the trust,” cannot reduce fixed nondiscretionary income payment or alter nondiscretionary annuity/ unitrust payment. No further current/remainder/new-beneficiary, vested, withdrawal, or new-appointment-power rule stated; exercise itself is special appointment power (§ 14-10819(A)(1)-(3),(C)) |
| Second-trust terms, duration, governing law, and administration | Appoint part/all property to trustee of “another trust”; all-property route may restate first instrument. Must satisfy validity limits in §§ 14-2901 and 14-2905. No express recipient-trust situs/governing law, duration, trustee, multiple-trust, partial-term, later-property, or continuity rule (§ 14-10819(A),(A)(6),(E)) |
| Tax, charitable, special-needs, compensation, and other guardrails | Exercise cannot adversely affect tax treatment of trust, trustee, settlor, or beneficiaries. No tax-category, charitable, special-needs, compensation, exculpation, indemnification, removal-power, support, or public-policy package stated (§ 14-10819(A)(5)) |
| Notice, recipients, consent, waiver, objection, and representation | No statutory advance notice, recipient list, consent, waiver, objection, delivery, attachment, or representation procedure stated in § 14-10819; express prerequisite is compliance with six conditions, without prior court approval (§ 14-10819(A)) |
| Exercise instrument, court review, effectiveness, and remedies | No signature, acknowledgment, notarization, trust-record/public filing, effective-date, saving, defect, reliance, liability, remedy, or limitations rule stated. Trustee may request court approval in sole discretion before or after exercise; all-property exercise may use restatement (§ 14-10819(D)-(E)) |
Requirements one by one
Arizona uses one short special-appointment statute
The trustee needs discretion under a testamentary instrument or irrevocable inter vivos agreement to make distributions to or for a beneficiary. The statute says the route is available regardless of whether the trust supplies a distribution standard and allows part or all of the trust property to be appointed to the trustee of another trust.
“The exercise of the trustee's power to appoint trust property under subsection A of this section is considered to be the exercise of a special power of appointment.” — A.R.S. § 14-10819(C)
Six conditions replace a uniform-act power-tier structure
The exercise cannot reduce a fixed nondiscretionary income payment, alter a nondiscretionary annuity or unitrust payment, fall outside the trust's beneficiaries, adversely affect tax treatment, or violate the cross-referenced validity limits. If the trustee is a possible beneficiary under an ascertainable standard, the recipient trust must use the same or a more restrictive standard.
Arizona states no separate expanded, limited, or special-needs branch and no additional general rule for vested interests, withdrawal powers, compensation, exculpation, later property, or second-trust duration.
Court approval is optional and can come before or after
The trustee may exercise without prior court approval. Subsection D separately allows the trustee, in the trustee's sole discretion, to request approval before or after the exercise. If all trust property is appointed, subsection E allows the trustee to do so by restating the trust instrument.
The section itself does not prescribe advance notice, beneficiary consent, a signed or acknowledged exercise, filing, a default effective date, or a defect- saving and remedy procedure.
What trips people up
The statutory threshold is discretion “to make distributions,” not an express principal-only power. Conversely, the lack of a named standard does not erase the six conditions, and an interested trustee must preserve or tighten any applicable ascertainable standard.
Arizona's tax condition is one general sentence. It does not enumerate marital, charitable, GST, grantor-trust, S-corporation, retirement, or other categories, so this page does not turn those examples into separate Arizona statutory tests.
Common questions
Must the trustee ask a court first?
No. Prior approval is not required, although the trustee may request approval before or after the exercise.
Can the trustee use a restated trust instead of a separate new instrument?
For an appointment of all trust property, yes: subsection E expressly permits a restatement of the trust instrument.
Does § 14-10819 create a beneficiary notice period?
No. The section states no notice period or recipient list. A court proceeding or another applicable source may raise separate notice questions outside this statutory decanting comparison.
Statutes and sources
- A.R.S. § 14-10819 — trustee's special appointment power, covered trusts, six conditions, Arizona-law scope, optional court approval, and restatement. Official text (accessed September 12, 2026).
Source links
Every statute quoted above, linked, with the date we checked it.
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