Trust Decanting Requirements in Washington
At a glance
| Governing law and available decanting route | Chapter 11.107 RCW, Trusts—Decanting Power. Trustee with expanded/limited discretion over principal may distribute principal to ≥1 second trusts or modify first trust; special-needs route. “Decanting power” definition says distribute income and principal, but operative §§ .020/.030 authorize principal subject to discretion (RCW 11.107.010-.030, .060) |
|---|---|
| First-trust scope, state connection, retroactivity, and opt-out | Any express trust except while grantor retains right to revoke/amend; solely charitable trust excluded. Covers pre-July 23, 2017 and later trusts with Washington situs or Washington law for administration, construction, or meaning/effect. Express decanting/modification prohibition or restriction controls/carries forward; general no-amendment, spendthrift, or transfer restraint alone does not (RCW 11.107.070(1),(9), .080(1),(3),(5)) |
| Authorized fiduciary and required distribution power | Trustee with expanded or limited discretion to distribute principal to ≥1 current beneficiaries; only part subject to discretion may move. Disability route treats trustee as holding expanded principal authority. Trustee must find consistency with fiduciary duties/first-trust purposes; no duty to exercise or inform and no present distribution need (RCW 11.107.020-.040, .060, .080(1),(4),(6)) |
| Expanded, limited, mandatory, and ascertainable-standard branches | Expanded means not limited by ascertainable/reasonably definite standard; limited means limited by either. Both ordinary routes require principal discretion; limited route requires substantially similar aggregate interests. No ordinary mandatory route; disability section supplies expanded treatment without separately requiring expanded discretion (RCW 11.107.010(1),(5),(7), .020-.030, .060) |
| Beneficiary, vested-interest, and power-of-appointment changes | Expanded route cannot add new current or presumptive-remainder/successor beneficiary outside first-trust groups or reduce/eliminate vested interest; may retain/omit/create/modify appointment powers with broader/different appointee class. Limited route requires substantially similar aggregate beneficial interests/distribution-for-benefit power. Disability route relaxes vested limit for disabled beneficiary and protects others (§§ .020-.030, .060) |
| Second-trust terms, duration, governing law, and administration | Second trust includes modified first trust or receiving trust; expanded/ limited routes allow any jurisdiction and partial exercise. Same/different duration subject to inherited perpetuity/accumulation/alienation rules. Complete/partial later-property defaults; property title remains vested, pending actions continue, rights/powers/purposes remain, debts follow, and second terms fall under Title 11 (RCW 11.107.010(11), .020-.030, .050, .070(5)) |
| Tax, charitable, special-needs, compensation, and other guardrails | Charitable-interest AG notice/representation and no diminution/altered purpose; solely charitable trust excluded. Disability/pooled/payback route. Qualified- beneficiary consent or court approval for compensation increase; aggregate liability cannot fall; remover-power change requires all qualified beneficiaries or court. Preserve broad federal/state tax benefits including marital, charitable, annual-exclusion, S-corp, GST, retirement, and specified grantor treatment (RCW 11.107.040(1)(b), .060, .070(2)-(8), .080(3)) |
| Notice, recipients, consent, waiver, objection, and representation | Generally no consent/court approval. Written notice ≥60 days before effective date to each qualified beneficiary, present appointment-power holder, and remover/replacer; AG if charitable interest—no ordinary settlor notice. Manner/date plus all first/second governing instruments. All waive in writing; unknown/unlocatable exception. Unrepresented minor may be omitted if another qualified beneficiary is adult/represented; if all are unrepresented minors, guardian ad litem petition required. TEDRA binding agreement optional (RCW 11.107.040) |
| Exercise instrument, court review, effectiveness, and remedies | Signed trustee record; court order under optional petition counts as signed record. Court may instruct, approve, declare ineffective, or grant other relief; no acknowledgment/notary/public filing. Reasonable reliance protected; reasonable-care notice failure not automatically fatal; noncompliant term void/required term deemed included when otherwise effective. No special limitations period (RCW 11.107.040(3),(7)-(8), .050(1), .080(7)-(8)) |
Requirements one by one
Expanded and limited powers both depend on principal discretion
Expanded discretion is not limited by an ascertainable or reasonably definite standard; limited discretion is. Under either ordinary route, the operative power depends on principal-distribution discretion and reaches the principal subject to that discretion. The chapter's broader definition refers to income and principal, but it does not replace the principal threshold in RCW 11.107.020 and .030.
Expanded discretion protects vested interests and limits new beneficiary groups while permitting appointment-power changes. Limited discretion instead requires substantially similar aggregate beneficial interests and substantially similar distribution-for-benefit authority.
Notice, representation, and the signed record share one section
The trustee gives at least 60 days' written notice to qualified beneficiaries, present appointment-power holders, and the current remover or replacer. A charitable interest adds Attorney General notice. The statute does not put the settlor in the ordinary notice list.
The notice specifies manner and date and includes every first- and second-trust governing instrument. All recipients can waive the period in writing. If every qualified beneficiary is a minor without a representative, the trustee must petition for a guardian ad litem; if another qualified beneficiary is adult or represented, the unrepresented minor may be omitted.
The exercise is a record signed by the trustee. An optional court order under RCW 11.107.040(3) itself counts as that record.
The effects provision carries more than assets
Title to real and personal property remains vested in the second trust without reversion or impairment. Pending actions continue by or against the second trust, and—subject to the chapter—the first trust's rights, privileges, immunities, powers, and purposes remain vested there. Debts and other obligations remain enforceable, and complete and partial exercises use different later-property defaults.
Specific prohibitions cover money, charity, tax, and control
Any compensation increase above the instrument's amount or the statute's permitted amount needs all qualified second-trust beneficiaries' signed consent or court approval. Aggregate fiduciary liability cannot fall, and a removal- power modification needs all those beneficiaries or a court order with a substantially similar replacement power.
The section also protects charitable interests and an extensive set of federal and state tax benefits. A disability route permits a qualifying special-needs trust and relaxes the vested-interest bar for that beneficiary while preserving substantially similar interests for others.
What trips people up
Washington allows a TEDRA binding agreement among the trustee, qualified beneficiaries, and other defined parties, but that is an alternative agreement route—not proof that every decanting needs consent. Likewise, an optional court petition does not replace the ordinary nonjudicial route.
A missed notice recipient does not automatically defeat the exercise when the trustee used reasonable care. That saving rule does not make the notice duty optional, and the statute states no objection deadline at the end of the 60-day period.
Common questions
Must a principal distribution otherwise be due now?
No. RCW 11.107.080(6) permits exercise whether or not the trustee would have made, or could have been compelled to make, a discretionary principal distribution then.
What happens to later-discovered property?
A good-faith complete decanting carries it into the second trust; after a partial decanting it remains in the first trust.
Can a defective second-trust term be saved?
When the exercise otherwise would be effective, RCW 11.107.080(7) voids a forbidden term or deems a required term included only to the extent needed for compliance.
Statutes and sources
- RCW 11.107.010-.030 (§ 11.107.010 et seq.) — definitions, expanded and limited principal powers, beneficiary and vested-interest limits, appointment powers, and other-jurisdiction second trusts. Official chapter text (accessed September 12, 2026).
- RCW 11.107.040 (§ 11.107.040) — fiduciary finding, notice, TEDRA agreement, court, minor representation, waiver, and signed record. Official chapter text (accessed September 12, 2026).
- RCW 11.107.050-.060 (§ 11.107.050 et seq.) — reliance, obligations, later assets, title, proceedings, continuity, and disability route. Official chapter text (accessed September 12, 2026).
- RCW 11.107.070-.080 (§ 11.107.070 et seq.) — prohibitions, compensation, liability, removal power, duration, charity, tax, scope, retroactivity, present need, duty, and saving. Official chapter text (accessed September 12, 2026).
Source links
Every statute quoted above, linked, with the date we checked it.
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