Kansas: Trustee Notice to Beneficiaries Requirements

Requirements one by one

Kansas uses two default 60-day notices

K.S.A. 58a-813(b)(2) starts the acceptance clock when the trustee accepts
office. Paragraph (b)(3) starts the irrevocability clock when the trustee
acquires knowledge that an irrevocable trust was created or that a formerly
revocable trust became irrevocable by the settlor's death or otherwise.

K.S.A. 58a-104 makes actual knowledge, received notice, or reason to know
relevant and supplies an employee-responsibility rule when the trustee is an
organization.

Qualified beneficiaries use only two horizons

K.S.A. 58a-103(12) includes a beneficiary eligible for mandatory or
discretionary distributions now and one who would be eligible if the trust
terminated immediately. Kansas does not include the separate next-line horizon
found in the uniform definition.

Section 58a-110 gives qualified-beneficiary rights to specified charitable
organizations, statutory purpose-trust enforcers, and the Kansas Attorney
General for an in-state-administered charitable trust.

A surviving-spouse rule can narrow the class to one person

Section 58a-813(d) makes the entire section inapplicable to qualified
beneficiaries other than the surviving spouse while the spouse is a qualified
beneficiary or holds a power of appointment over the entire trust estate and
all other qualified beneficiaries are the spouse's issue.

This is not merely a representation rule. In the stated family pattern, the
nonspouse qualified beneficiaries do not receive the two initial notices under
§ 58a-813.

The notices have different content

The acceptance notice states the acceptance and supplies the trustee's name,
address, and telephone number. The irrevocability notice states the trust's
existence, identifies the settlor or settlors, and describes the rights to
request relevant portions of the trust instrument and a trustee's report.

Advance notice of a change in the trustee's compensation method or rate is a
separate duty. The initial notices do not require a trust date, tax identifier,
amendment history, signature, oath, notarization, or proof of service.

Trust terms control and delivery includes electronic messages

K.S.A. 58a-105's mandatory list does not preserve § 58a-813. Subsection
58a-813(b) likewise begins “Except as otherwise provided under the terms of the
trust,” so the initial duties are default rules.

Section 58a-109 permits any reasonably suitable method likely to result in
receipt, including first-class mail, personal or last-known-address delivery,
and a properly directed electronic message. Unknown or unlocatable persons need
not receive notice when not reasonably ascertainable.

What trips people up

• Kansas has two recipient horizons, not three. The current definition is
  subsection (12), not the former subsection (13).
• The spouse exception applies to the whole section. It can remove the
  initial-notice duty to the spouse's issue while its conditions continue.
• The notices are modifiable. Kansas did not preserve § 58a-813 in its
  mandatory-rule list.
• The instrument-copy duty has its own wording. A specific request for the
  full instrument must be honored promptly; the “unless unreasonable” phrase
  belongs to the general information-response sentence, not paragraph (b)(1).
• HB 2590 is not current yet. Its operative trigger is publication in the
  statute book, which had not occurred on the verified current page.

Common questions

Must the full trust instrument accompany the notice?

No. The irrevocability notice states the right to request relevant portions.
A qualified beneficiary may specifically request the full instrument under
§ 58a-813(b)(1).

Can a beneficiary waive reports or information?

Yes. Subsection (c) permits waiver and prospective withdrawal. Neither it nor
§ 58a-109(c) says the waiver must be signed or written.

Which older trusts are covered?

Section 58a-1106 generally applies the code to trusts created before, on, or
after January 1, 2003, but an act done before that effective date is not
affected. Section 58a-813 has no separate trust-date cutoff.

Statutes and sources

• K.S.A. 58a-103 through 58a-110 — two-horizon definition, knowledge,
  trust-term control, delivery, waiver, and special recipients. Kansas Office
  of Revisor of Statutes
  (accessed 2026-07-31).
• K.S.A. 58a-603, 58a-813, and 58a-1106 — revocable-settlor rule, two
  notices, contents, reporting, waiver, spouse/issue exception, and general
  application rule. Kansas Legislature
  (accessed 2026-07-31).
• 2026 HB 2590 — signed designated-representative and governing-instrument
  amendments effective only on statute-book publication. Kansas
  Legislature
  (checked 2026-07-31).