Arizona Laws 14-7405. Determination and distribution of net income
After a decedent dies, in the case of an estate, or after an income interest in a trust ends, the following apply:
Terms Used In Arizona Laws 14-7405
- Assets: (1) The property comprising the estate of a deceased person, or (2) the property in a trust account.
- Beneficiary: A person who is entitled to receive the benefits or proceeds of a will, trust, insurance policy, retirement plan, annuity, or other contract. Source: OCC
- Beneficiary: includes , in the case of a decedent's estate, an heir, legatee and devisee and, in the case of a trust, an income beneficiary and a remainder beneficiary. See Arizona Laws 14-7401
- Court: means the superior court. See Arizona Laws 14-1201
- Decedent: A deceased person.
- Estate: includes the property of the decedent, trust or other person whose affairs are subject to this title as originally constituted and as it exists from time to time during administration. See Arizona Laws 14-1201
- Fiduciary: A trustee, executor, or administrator.
- Fiduciary: means a personal representative or a trustee and includes an executor, an administrator, a successor personal representative, a special administrator and a person performing substantially the same function. See Arizona Laws 14-7401
- including: means not limited to and is not a term of exclusion. See Arizona Laws 1-215
- Income: means money or property that a fiduciary receives as current return from a principal asset and includes a portion of receipts from a sale, exchange or liquidation of a principal asset, to the extent provided in sections 14-7410 through 14-7424. See Arizona Laws 14-7401
- Income interest: means the right of an income beneficiary to receive all or part of net income, whether the terms of the trust require it to be distributed or authorize it to be distributed in the trustee's discretion. See Arizona Laws 14-7401
- Liabilities: The aggregate of all debts and other legal obligations of a particular person or legal entity.
- Net income: means the total receipts allocated to income during an accounting period minus the disbursements made from income during the period, plus or minus transfers under this article to or from income during the period. See Arizona Laws 14-7401
- Principal: means property held in trust for distribution to a remainder beneficiary when the trust terminates. See Arizona Laws 14-7401
- Property: includes both real and personal property. See Arizona Laws 1-215
- Settlement: Parties to a lawsuit resolve their difference without having a trial. Settlements often involve the payment of compensation by one party in satisfaction of the other party's claims.
- Trust: includes an express trust, private or charitable, with any additions, wherever and however created. See Arizona Laws 14-1201
1. A fiduciary of an estate or of a terminating income interest shall determine the amount of net income and net principal receipts received from property specifically given to a beneficiary pursuant to the provisions of sections 14-7407 through 14-7430 that apply to trustees and paragraph 5 of this section. The fiduciary shall distribute the net income and net principal receipts to the beneficiary who is to receive the specific property.
2. A fiduciary shall determine the remaining net income of a decedent’s estate or a terminating income interest pursuant to the provisions of section 14-7407 through 14-7430 that apply to trustees and by:
(a) Including in net income all income from property used to discharge liabilities.
(b) Paying from income or principal, in the fiduciary’s discretion, fees of attorneys, accountants and fiduciaries, court costs and other expenses of administration and interest on death taxes, but the fiduciary may pay those expenses from income of property passing to a trust for which the fiduciary claims an estate tax marital or charitable deduction only to the extent that the payment of those expenses from income will not cause the reduction or loss of the deduction.
(c) Paying from principal all other disbursements made or incurred in connection with the settlement of a decedent’s estate or the winding up of a terminating income interest, including debts, funeral expenses, disposition of remains, family allowances and death taxes and related penalties that are apportioned to the estate or terminating income interest by the will, the terms of the trust or applicable law.
3. A fiduciary shall distribute to a beneficiary who receives a pecuniary amount outright the interest or any other amount provided by the will, the terms of the trust or applicable law from net income determined under paragraph 2 of this section or from principal to the extent that net income is insufficient. If a beneficiary is to receive a pecuniary amount outright from a trust after an income interest ends and no interest or other amount is provided for by the terms of the trust or applicable law, the fiduciary shall distribute the interest or other amount to which the beneficiary would be entitled under applicable law if the pecuniary amount were required to be paid under a will.
4. A fiduciary shall distribute the net income remaining after distributions required by paragraph 3 of this section in the manner described in section 14-7406 to all other beneficiaries, including a beneficiary who receives a pecuniary amount in trust, even if the beneficiary holds an unqualified power to withdraw assets from the trust or other presently exercisable general power of appointment over the trust.
5. A fiduciary may not reduce principal or income receipts from property described in paragraph 1 of this section because of a payment described in section 14-7425 or 14-7426 to the extent that the will, the terms of the trust or applicable law requires the fiduciary to make the payment from assets other than the property or to the extent that the fiduciary recovers or expects to recover the payment from a third party. The net income and principal receipts from the property are determined by including all of the amounts the fiduciary receives or pays with respect to the property, whether those amounts accrued or became due before, on or after the date of a decedent’s death or an income interest’s terminating event, and by making a reasonable provision for amounts that the fiduciary believes the estate or terminating income interest may become obligated to pay after the property is distributed.