(A) A court may not change a fiduciary's decision, or order a fiduciary to change its decision, to exercise or not to exercise a discretionary power conferred by the South Carolina Uniform Principal and Income Act unless it determines that the decision was an abuse of the fiduciary's discretion. A fiduciary's decision is not an abuse of discretion merely because the court would have exercised the power in a different manner or would not have exercised the power.

(B) The decisions subject to subsection (A) include, but are not limited to, a determination:

(1) pursuant to Section 62-7-904(A) of whether and to what extent an amount should be transferred from principal to income or from income to principal; and

(2) of the factors that are relevant to the trust and its beneficiaries, the extent to which they are relevant, and the weight, if any, to be given to the relevant factors, in deciding whether and to what extent to exercise the power in Section 62-7-904(A).

(C) If a court determines that a fiduciary has abused its discretion, the court may place the income and remainder beneficiaries in the positions they would have occupied if the fiduciary had not abused its discretion, according to the following rules:

(1) to the extent that the abuse of discretion has resulted in no distribution to a beneficiary or in a distribution that is too small, the court must order the fiduciary to distribute from the trust to the beneficiary an amount that the court determines will restore the beneficiary, in whole or in part, to the beneficiary's appropriate position;

(2) to the extent that the abuse of discretion has resulted in a distribution to a beneficiary that is too large, the court must place the beneficiaries, the trust, or both, in whole or in part, in their appropriate positions by ordering the fiduciary to withhold an amount from one or more future distributions to the beneficiary who received the distribution that was too large or ordering that beneficiary to return some or all of the distribution to the trust;

(3) to the extent that the court is unable, after applying items (1) and (2), to place the beneficiaries, the trust, or both, in the positions they would have occupied if the fiduciary had not abused its discretion, the court may order the fiduciary to pay an appropriate amount from its own funds to one or more of the beneficiaries or the trust, or both.

(D) Upon a petition by the fiduciary, the court having jurisdiction over the trust or estate must determine whether a proposed exercise or nonexercise by the fiduciary of a discretionary power in the South Carolina Uniform Principal and Income Act would result in an abuse of the fiduciary's discretion. If the petition describes the proposed exercise or nonexercise of the power and contains sufficient information to inform the beneficiaries of the reasons for the proposal, the facts upon which the fiduciary relies, and an explanation of how the income and remainder beneficiaries would be affected by the proposed exercise or nonexercise of the power, a beneficiary who challenges the proposed exercise or nonexercise has the burden of establishing that it will result in an abuse of discretion.

HISTORY: 2013 Act No. 100, Section 2, eff January 1, 2014.