RCW 11.96A.127 Charitable dispositions by will or trust.

(1) Except as otherwise provided in subsection (2) of this section, with respect to any charitable disposition made in a will or trust, if a particular charitable purpose becomes unlawful, impracticable, impossible to achieve, or wasteful:

(a) The disposition does not fail, in whole or in part;

(b) The subject property does not revert to the alternative, residuary, or intestate heirs of the estate or, in the case of a trust, the trustor or the trustor's successors in interest; and

(c) The court may modify or terminate the trust by directing that the property be applied or distributed, in whole or in part, in a manner consistent with the testator's or trustor's charitable purposes.

(2) A provision in the terms of a will or charitable trust that would result in distribution of the property to a noncharitable beneficiary prevails over the power of the court under subsection (1) of this section to modify or terminate the will provision or trust only if, when the provision takes effect:

(a) The property is to revert to the trustor and the trustor is still living; or

(b) Fewer than twenty-one years have elapsed since the following:

(i) In the case of a charitable disposition in trust, the date of the trust's creation or the date the trust became irrevocable; or

(ii) In the case of a charitable disposition in a will, the death of the testator, in the case of a charitable disposition in a will.

(3) For purposes of this title, a charitable purpose is one for the relief of poverty, the advancement of education or religion, the promotion of health, governmental or municipal purposes, or other purposes the achievement of which is beneficial to a community.

[ 2011 c 327 § 10.]

NOTES:

Application—Effective date—2011 c 327: See notes following RCW 11.103.020.