As used in sections 456.970 to 456.1135 the following terms mean:

(1) “Appointee”, a person to which a powerholder makes an appointment of appointive property;

Terms Used In Missouri Laws 456.975

  • Attachment: A procedure by which a person's property is seized to pay judgments levied by the court.
  • Corporation: A legal entity owned by the holders of shares of stock that have been issued, and that can own, receive, and transfer property, and carry on business in its own name.
  • Donor: The person who makes a gift.
  • Evidence: Information presented in testimony or in documents that is used to persuade the fact finder (judge or jury) to decide the case for one side or the other.
  • following: when used by way of reference to any section of the statutes, mean the section next preceding or next following that in which the reference is made, unless some other section is expressly designated in the reference. See Missouri Laws 1.020
  • person: may extend and be applied to bodies politic and corporate, and to partnerships and other unincorporated associations. See Missouri Laws 1.020
  • Power of attorney: A written instrument which authorizes one person to act as another's agent or attorney. The power of attorney may be for a definite, specific act, or it may be general in nature. The terms of the written power of attorney may specify when it will expire. If not, the power of attorney usually expires when the person granting it dies. Source: OCC
  • Property: includes real and personal property. See Missouri Laws 1.020

(2) “Appointive property”, the property or property interest subject to a power of appointment;

(3) “Blanket-exercise clause”, a clause in an instrument which exercises a power of appointment and is not a specific-exercise clause. The term includes a clause that:

(a) Expressly uses the words “any power” in exercising any power of appointment the powerholder has;

(b) Expressly uses the words “any property” in appointing any property over which the powerholder has a power of appointment; or

(c) Disposes of all property subject to disposition by the powerholder;

(4) “Claim of creditor”, the attachment by a creditor of trust property or beneficial interests subject to a power of appointment, a creditor obtaining an order from a court forcing a judicial sale of trust property, a creditor compelling the exercise of a power of appointment, or a creditor reaching trust property or beneficial interests by other means;

(5) “Donor”, a person who creates a power of appointment;

(6) “Exclusionary power of appointment”, a power of appointment exercisable in favor of any one or more of the permissible appointees to the exclusion of the other permissible appointees;

(7) “General power of appointment”, a power of appointment exercisable in favor of the powerholder, the powerholder’s estate, a creditor of the powerholder, or a creditor of the powerholder’s estate;

(8) “Gift-in-default clause”, a clause identifying a taker in default of appointment;

(9) “Impermissible appointee”, a person that is not a permissible appointee;

(10) “Instrument”, a document that contains information that:

(a) Is inscribed on a hard copy, or inscribed on a hard copy that is transmitted by facsimile or stored in portable document format (.pdf) or in another comparable electronic means or other medium that is retrievable in perceivable form; and

(b) Contains a signature;

(11) “Nongeneral power of appointment”, a power of appointment that is not a general power of appointment;

(12) “Permissible appointee”, a person in whose favor a powerholder may exercise a power of appointment;

(13) “Person”, an individual, estate, trust, business or nonprofit entity, public corporation, government or governmental subdivision, agency, or instrumentality, or other legal entity;

(14) “Power of appointment”, 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. The term does not include a power of attorney;

(15) “Powerholder”, a person in which a donor creates a power of appointment;

(16) “Presently exercisable power of appointment”, a power of appointment exercisable by the powerholder at the relevant time. The term includes a power of appointment not exercisable until the occurrence of a specified event, the satisfaction of an ascertainable standard, or the passage of a specified time only after:

(a) The occurrence of the specified event;

(b) The satisfaction of the ascertainable standard; or

(c) The passage of the specified time, and does not include a power exercisable only at the powerholder’s death;

(17) “Specific-exercise clause”, a clause in an instrument which specifically refers to and exercises a particular power of appointment;

(18) “Taker in default of appointment”, a person that takes all or part of the appointive property to the extent the powerholder does not effectively exercise the power of appointment;

(19) “Terms of the instrument”, the manifestation of the intent of the maker of the instrument regarding the instrument’s provisions as expressed in the instrument or as may be established by other evidence that would be admissible in a legal proceeding.