§ 15-2-511 — TESTAMENTARY ADDITIONS TO TRUSTS

(1) (a) A will may validly devise property to the trustee of a trust established or to be established:
(i) During the testator’s lifetime by the testator or by the testator and some other person or by some other person, including a funded or unfunded life insurance trust, although the trustor has reserved any or all rights of ownership of the insurance contracts; or
(ii) At the testator’s death by the testator’s devise to the trustee if the trust is identified in the testator’s will and its terms are set forth in a written instrument, other than a will, executed before, concurrently with, or after the execution of the testator’s will or in another individual’s will if that other individual has predeceased the testator, regardless of the existence, size, or character of the corpus of the trust.
(b) The devise is not invalid because the trust is amendable or revocable, or because the trust was amended after the execution of the will or the testator’s death.
(2) Unless the testator’s will provides otherwise, property devised to a trust described in subsection (1) of this section is not held under a testamentary trust of the testator but it becomes a part of the trust to which it is devised and must be administered and disposed of in accordance with the provisions of the governing instrument setting forth the terms of the trust, including any amendments thereto made before or after the testator’s death.
(3) Unless the testator’s will provides otherwise a revocation or termination of the trust before the testator’s death causes the devise to lapse.

Legislative History

[15-2-511, as added by 1971, ch. 111, sec. 1, p. 233; am. 1999, ch. 304, sec. 1, p. 761; am. 2006, ch. 161, sec. 1, p. 481.]