As used in the Uniform Directed Trust Act:

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Terms Used In New Mexico Statutes 46-14-2

  • 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
  • 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.
  • 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.
  • Jurisdiction: (1) The legal authority of a court to hear and decide a case. Concurrent jurisdiction exists when two courts have simultaneous responsibility for the same case. (2) The geographic area over which the court has authority to decide cases.
  • 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.
  • Testator: A male person who leaves a will at death.
  • Trustee: A person or institution holding and administering property in trust.

A. “breach of trust” includes a violation by a trust director or trustee of a duty imposed on that director or trustee by the terms of the trust, by the Uniform Directed Trust Act or by another law of New Mexico pertaining to trusts;

B. “directed trust” means a trust for which the terms of the trust grant a power of direction;

C. “directed trustee” means a trustee that is subject to a trust director’s power of direction;

D. “person” means an individual; estate; business or nonprofit entity; public corporation; government; governmental subdivision, agency or instrumentality; or other legal entity;

E. “power of direction”:

(1)     means a power over a trust granted to a person by the terms of the trust to the extent the power is exercisable while the person is not serving as a trustee;

(2)     includes a power over the investment, management or distribution of trust property or other matters of trust administration; and

(3)     excludes the powers described in Subsection B of Section 5 [46-14-5 N.M. Stat. Ann.] of the Uniform Directed Trust Act;

F. “settlor” means a person, including a testator, that creates, or contributes property to, a trust. If more than one person creates or contributes property to a trust, each person is a settlor of the portion of the trust property attributable to that person’s contribution except to the extent another person has the power to revoke or withdraw that portion;

G. “state” means a state of the United States, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the United States Virgin Islands or any other territory or possession subject to the jurisdiction of the United States;

H. “terms of a trust” means:

(1)     except as otherwise provided in Paragraph (2) of this subsection, the manifestation of the settlor’s intent regarding a trust’s provisions as:

(a) expressed in the trust instrument; or

(b) established by other evidence that would be admissible in a judicial proceeding; or

(2)     the trust’s provisions as established, determined or amended by: (a) a trustee or trust director in accordance with applicable law;

(b) court order; or

(c) a nonjudicial settlement agreement under Section 46A-1-111 N.M. Stat. Ann.; I. “trust director” means a person that is granted a power of direction by the terms of a trust to the extent the power is exercisable while the person is not serving as a trustee. The person is a trust director whether or not the terms of the trust refer to the person as a trust director and whether or not the person is a beneficiary or settlor of the trust; and

J. “trustee” includes an original, additional and successor trustee and a cotrustee [co-trustee].