(a) The exercise of a power of appointment requires a manifestation of the powerholder‘s intent to exercise the power.

(b) A manifestation of the powerholder’s intent to exercise a power of appointment exists in any of the following circumstances:

Terms Used In California Probate Code 640

  • Appointive property: means the property or interest in property that is the subject of the power of appointment. See California Probate Code 610
  • Power of appointment: means a power that enables a powerholder acting in a nonfiduciary capacity to designate a recipient of an ownership interest in or another power of appointment over the appointive property. See California Probate Code 610
  • Powerholder: means the person to whom a power of appointment is given or in whose favor a power of appointment is reserved. See California Probate Code 610
  • Property: means anything that may be the subject of ownership and includes both real and personal property and any interest therein. See California Probate Code 62

(1) The powerholder declares, in substance, that the powerholder exercises specific powers or all the powers the powerholder has.

(2) The powerholder purports to transfer an interest in the appointive property that the powerholder would have no power to transfer except by virtue of the power.

(3) The powerholder makes a disposition that, when considered with reference to the property owned and the circumstances existing at the time of the disposition, manifests the powerholder’s understanding that the powerholder was disposing of the appointive property.

(c) The circumstances described in subdivision (b) are illustrative, not exclusive.

(Amended by Stats. 2016, Ch. 81, Sec. 8. (AB 2846) Effective January 1, 2017.)