# Connecticut Asset Protection Trusts: Qualified Dispositions, Creditors, Divorce and Land[^about] How Connecticut's Qualified Dispositions in Trust Act works, which creditors can still reach a self-settled trust, and how divorce and land rules apply. ## What does a Connecticut self-settled trust need to qualify for protection under the 2019 Act? {#qualifying-trust} **Short answer.** A transfer is protected under the Connecticut Qualified Dispositions in Trust Act only if it is made to at least one qualified trustee under a written, irrevocable trust instrument with a spendthrift clause and, with one exception, a clause expressly choosing Connecticut law. [^ct-487k-trust-instrument-three-requirements] [^ct-487m-nonqualified-trustee-transfer-exception] The one exception covers a transfer from a trustee who is not a qualified trustee to a qualified trustee, which does not fail to qualify solely because the instrument lacks the Connecticut governing-law clause. [^ct-487m-nonqualified-trustee-transfer-exception] The governing-law clause must make Connecticut law govern the trust's validity, construction and administration, and the spendthrift clause must bar transfer of the interest of the transferor (the person who funds the trust) or any other beneficiary before distribution. [^ct-487k-trust-instrument-three-requirements] The Act was enacted by Public Act 19-137 and took effect January 1, 2020. [^ct-487j-short-title-pa-19-137] Its operative sections apply to qualified dispositions made on or after that date. [^ct-487s-dispositions-on-or-after-2020] The transferor can keep listed benefits and powers without making the trust revocable, including a veto over distributions, a will-exercised power of appointment that cannot benefit the transferor or the transferor's estate or creditors, and the right to income. [^ct-487n-veto-appointment-income] The transferor can also receive principal when a qualified trustee acts in its discretion, under a standard that gives the transferor no substantially unfettered right to principal, or at the direction of a trust director acting in that way. [^ct-487n-principal-trustee-discretion] Separately, the statute presumes that a qualified trustee has discretion over principal unless the instrument expressly denies it, but by its text that presumption applies only for purposes of the subparagraph in which it appears, § 45a-487n(6)(C), the provision on a trustee acting at a trust director's direction. [^ct-487n-principal-trustee-discretion] Beyond the rights the instrument confers, the transferor has no rights over the trust property, and any side agreement granting greater rights is void. [^ct-487o-side-agreement-void] Apart from the claims § 45a-487q preserves, which are support, alimony or property-division debts already owed under an agreement or court order at the time of the transfer and claims for death, injury or property damage occurring on or before it [^ct-487q-family-debts-preserved-qualifying] [^ct-487q-pre-transfer-torts-preserved-qualifying], a creditor's challenge to a transfer runs through the Uniform Fraudulent Transfer Act remedy in § 52-552h, which § 45a-487p(a) makes the only route, with each element proved by clear and convincing evidence. [^ct-487p-ufta-only-route-clear-convincing] "The transferor shall have only such powers and rights as are conferred by the trust instrument."[^ct-487o-side-agreement-void] ## Can the person who creates a Connecticut asset protection trust, or a relative, serve as its trustee? {#trustee} **Short answer.** The person who funds a Connecticut qualified disposition trust (the transferor) cannot be its qualified trustee, but the Act does not otherwise require that trustee to be independent of the transferor. [^ct-487k-qualified-trustee-excludes-transferor] A qualified trustee is a Connecticut-resident individual other than the transferor, or a state or federally chartered bank or trust company that has a Connecticut place of business and is authorized to do trust business in Connecticut. [^ct-487k-qualified-trustee-residence-and-activities] The same definition lists Connecticut administration activities: custody of some trust property in Connecticut, Connecticut trust records, Connecticut fiduciary income tax returns, or other material participation in administering the trust in Connecticut. [^ct-487k-qualified-trustee-residence-and-activities] The sentence can be read to apply that activity list to every qualified trustee or only to banks and trust companies, because § 45a-487k(9)(A) strings the residence test and the activity list together without separating them, and no Connecticut decision construing it was found in our review. A conservative reading is that an individual trustee also performs at least one of the listed activities in Connecticut. [^ct-487k-qualified-trustee-residence-and-activities] The related-or-subordinate test of 26 U.S.C. § 672(c) appears in the Act only as a limit on the transferor's retained power to remove a trustee or director and appoint a replacement. [^ct-487n-removal-power-not-related-party] A transferor can serve as a trust director, but only with the veto over distributions. [^ct-487l-transferor-director-veto-only] In an action against a trustee of a trust funded wholly or partly by a qualified disposition, if the court declines to apply Connecticut law to the trust's validity, construction or administration or to the effect of its spendthrift provision, the trustee immediately ceases to be trustee. A successor then succeeds under the trust instrument; if the instrument provides no successor and the trust would otherwise be without a trustee, the court with jurisdiction appoints one on a beneficiary's application. [^ct-487p-trustee-ceases-if-ct-law-rejected] Independence also matters in litigation. In *Netter v. Netter*, the Appellate Court rejected a trial-court finding that a settlor controlled his self-settled trusts because a disinterested trustee had to approve every distribution, although the court treated the trusts as divisible marital property on other grounds. [^netter-disinterested-trustee-defeats-control-finding] [^netter-trusts-divisible-despite-trustee-approval] ## How long does a creditor have to challenge a transfer to a Connecticut asset protection trust? {#challenge-deadline} **Short answer.** Apart from the family-debt and pre-transfer injury claims that § 45a-487q preserves, a creditor whose claim arose before a transfer to a Connecticut qualified disposition trust must sue within four years after the transfer or, if later, within one year after it was or could reasonably have been discovered. [^ct-487p-two-limitation-periods] [^ct-487q-family-debts-preserved-deadline] [^ct-487q-pre-transfer-torts-preserved-deadline] A creditor whose claim arose after the transfer has a flat four years. [^ct-487p-two-limitation-periods] The suit must be brought under § 52-552h of Connecticut's Uniform Fraudulent Transfer Act, and the creditor must prove each element by clear and convincing evidence. [^ct-487p-clear-convincing-burden] [^ct-ufta-short-title] That route and these deadlines are qualified by § 45a-487q, which states that the Act's sections shall not apply to defeat claims for support, alimony or property-division debts already owed under an agreement or court order at the time of the transfer, or claims for death, injury or property damage occurring on or before it. [^ct-487q-family-debts-preserved-deadline] [^ct-487q-pre-transfer-torts-preserved-deadline] If the creditor wins, the transfer is undone only to the extent needed to pay that creditor's debt, plus costs and attorney's fees the court allows. [^ct-487r-avoidance-only-to-extent-of-debt] After avoidance, a beneficiary who did not act in bad faith keeps distributions the trustee properly made in the exercise of a trust power or discretion before the creditor sued to avoid the transfer. [^ct-487r-beneficiary-retains-good-faith-distributions] To defeat that protection, the creditor generally must prove the beneficiary's bad faith by clear and convincing evidence, but must prove a transferor-beneficiary's bad faith only by a preponderance of the evidence. [^ct-487r-transferor-beneficiary-bad-faith-standard] This lower standard concerns that bad-faith showing; the elements of the avoidance action itself still require clear and convincing proof under § 45a-487p(a). [^ct-487p-clear-convincing-burden] A creditor has no claim against the trustee, a trust director, or anyone involved in counseling, drafting, preparing, executing or funding the trust. [^ct-487p-no-claim-against-trustee-or-advisers] Section 52-552e(a), the Connecticut provision on transfers made with actual intent to defraud, is headed and written for creditors whose claims arose before the transfer. [^ct-52-552e-present-creditors-only] In *Daly v. Parete (In re Carrozzella & Richardson)*, the Bankruptcy Court for the District of Connecticut said it was not at all clear that § 52-552e(a)(1) would apply to actual intent to defraud future creditors. [^carrozzella-future-creditors-doubt] Read together, § 45a-487p(b)(2) assumes a creditor whose claim arose after the transfer can sue, but the only cause of action § 45a-487p(a) allows may not reach that creditor. No Connecticut appellate decision resolving that gap was found in our review, so on this reading a later creditor faces a real risk of having no avoidance claim, while a creditor whose claim predates the transfer has a clear statutory path. [^ct-487p-two-limitation-periods] [^ct-52-552e-present-creditors-only] "(2) The creditor's claim against the transferor arose subsequent to the qualified disposition, unless the action is brought within four years after the qualified disposition is made."[^ct-487p-two-limitation-periods] ## Which creditors can still reach a Connecticut asset protection trust? {#exception-creditors} **Short answer.** The Connecticut Act does not defeat two kinds of claims against the transferor: support, alimony or property-division debts already owed under an agreement or court order when the transfer is made, and claims for death, injury or property damage that occurred on or before the transfer. [^ct-487q-support-alimony-property-division] [^ct-487q-pre-transfer-torts] The support and alimony exception covers debts owed to the transferor's spouse, former spouse or children, and the property-division exception covers debts owed to a spouse or former spouse. Each applies only to the extent of the debt. [^ct-487q-support-alimony-property-division] The tort exception covers injury caused in whole or in part by the transferor or by someone for whom the transferor is vicariously liable, whenever the cause is determined, but only to the extent of the claim. [^ct-487q-pre-transfer-torts] For both exceptions, a spouse or former spouse means only a person married to the transferor at or before the transfer. [^ct-487k-spouse-married-at-or-before] Read literally, § 45a-487q(1) covers only support, alimony or property-division debts already owed under an agreement or court order on or before the transfer, so a claimant whose debt arose afterward would have to use the fraudulent transfer route and its deadlines. [^ct-487q-support-alimony-property-division] A divorce court, however, separately has power to assign to either spouse all or part of the other spouse's estate, and the divorce question on this page explains how the Appellate Court has used that power against self-settled trusts. [^ct-46b-81-assign-estate] The Act also excludes from qualified dispositions any transfer that would defeat a state or federal Medicaid recovery claim under 42 U.S.C. chapter 7, subchapter XIX, or that is weighed in a Medicaid eligibility determination. [^ct-487k-medicaid-carve-out] The Act's exception list contains no other category, such as a general exception for state claims. [^ct-487q-pre-transfer-torts] ## Will a Connecticut divorce court divide assets in a self-settled trust governed by another state's law? {#divorce} **Short answer.** In *Netter v. Netter*, decided October 21, 2025, the Connecticut Appellate Court held that three self-settled spendthrift trusts governed by South Dakota law violated Connecticut public policy and were divisible marital property in a Connecticut divorce. [^netter-self-settled-trusts-violate-public-policy] [^netter-south-dakota-law-governs-interpretation] The court held that the trust agreements were not valid trust instruments under the Connecticut Act. [^netter-not-valid-trust-instruments] The Act's definition requires an instrument that expressly makes Connecticut law govern the trust's validity, construction and administration. [^ct-487k-governing-law-requirement-divorce] Read together with the court's agreement that South Dakota law governed its interpretation of the agreements [^netter-south-dakota-law-governs-interpretation], the defect was the agreements' choice of South Dakota law rather than Connecticut law. For an existing trust from another state, § 45a-487m(c) allows a trustee who is not a qualified trustee to transfer the assets to a Connecticut qualified trustee, and that transfer does not fail to qualify solely because the instrument lacks a Connecticut governing-law clause. [^ct-487m-transfer-to-qualified-trustee] The court stated the rule that decided the case: a self-settled spendthrift trust that does not satisfy the Act, or whose enforcement would substantially prejudice the parties, falls back on Connecticut law as it stood before the Act and is void as a matter of public policy. [^netter-noncompliant-trust-void-rule] The court also relied on the trial court's unchallenged findings that the settlor had moved most of the marital assets into the trusts when he knew a divorce was imminent. [^netter-assets-moved-before-divorce] On that record it upheld the trial court's conclusion that the three self-settled trusts were divisible marital property. [^netter-self-settled-trusts-divisible-conclusion] A spendthrift trust created for the settlor by his father was treated differently. [^netter-father-created-spendthrift-trust] The settlor had no presently enforceable right to its assets, so it was not property the court could divide under § 46b-81. [^netter-third-party-trust-not-divisible] *Netter* is a property-division ruling, and the court reversed the financial orders and remanded for a new trial on all financial issues. [^netter-remand-financial-orders] *Netter* does not decide how a divorce court treats a trust that complies with the Act and was funded after January 1, 2020, in a proceeding begun after that date. The prejudice provision the court cited, § 45a-487t(a)(3), applies by its terms to judicial proceedings commenced before January 1, 2020. [^ct-487t-pre-2020-proceedings-prejudice] Read together, the prejudice route may not be available against a compliant trust in a later proceeding, and whether a court would reach a similar result for such a trust through its general power to divide marital property is untested in the authorities found in our review. "Thus, if a self-settled spendthrift trust agreement does not satisfy the Connecticut act’s requirements, or if a court finds that sustaining a self-settled spendthrift trust would substantially prejudice the rights of the parties, the law as it existed in Connecticut prior to the legislation is applicable; see General Statutes § 45a-487t (a) (3); and the trust will be void as a matter of public policy."[^netter-noncompliant-trust-void-rule] > [!NOTE] > **Practice note.** > > A governing-law clause selecting another state's law, without a qualifying transfer under § 45a-487m(c), can leave the trust outside the Act and expose its assets to division in a Connecticut divorce. [^ct-487k-governing-law-requirement-divorce] [^ct-487m-transfer-to-qualified-trustee] [^netter-not-valid-trust-instruments] [^netter-self-settled-trusts-divisible-conclusion] ## Can creditors reach a Connecticut settlor's self-settled trust that does not meet the Act's requirements? {#nonqualifying-trusts} **Short answer.** Under *Greenwich Trust Co. v. Tyson* (1942), a settlor's creditors can reach trust income payable to the settlor from a self-settled trust outside the Connecticut Act, whether the settlor is the sole income beneficiary or the trustee has discretion to pay income to the settlor. [^tyson-settlor-sole-income-reachable] [^tyson-discretionary-income-reachable] *Tyson* explained that the public policy supporting spendthrift trusts created for someone else is overborne when the settlor is the beneficiary. [^tyson-self-settled-policy-overborne] The discretionary-income rule applies even when the trustee may also pay or use the income for others. [^tyson-discretionary-income-reachable] Principal the trustee could distribute to the settlor is also reachable under the rule applied in *In re Brooks* (Bankr. D. Conn. 1998). That court quoted the Restatement rule that a settlor's creditors can reach the maximum amount of income or principal the trustee could pay to the settlor [^brooks-discretionary-principal-rule-nonqualifying], applied it to trusts giving the debtor all income and discretionary principal [^brooks-rule-applied-income-and-principal-nonqualifying], and held the transferred property part of the bankruptcy estate. [^brooks-transferred-property-in-estate] *Brooks* is a federal bankruptcy court decision applying Connecticut law, so it does not bind Connecticut courts. Whether creditors can reach principal that the trustee has no power to distribute to the settlor is not established by the authorities found in our review. As context, the Appellate Court in *Netter v. Netter* (2025), a divorce property-division ruling, treated pre-Act law as the rule for a self-settled spendthrift trust that does not satisfy the Act and stated that such a trust is void as a matter of public policy. [^netter-pre-act-law-governs-noncompliant-trust] Connecticut's trust code also withholds its own limits on beneficiaries' creditors from creditors of a settlor who is a beneficiary. [^ct-499nn-settlor-creditors-excluded] Routing the settlor's property through another person may not avoid this result. In *Brooks*, the debtor transferred property to his spouse under a plan for the spouse to place it in spendthrift trusts for the debtor's benefit. [^brooks-transfer-through-wife-plan] The court determined that the trusts were self-settled and held the spendthrift provisions unenforceable under Connecticut law. [^brooks-trusts-determined-self-settled] [^brooks-spendthrift-unenforceable-ct-law] "If in such a trust the settlor is the sole person entitled to the income, that income can be reached by his creditors."[^tyson-settlor-sole-income-reachable] ## If a trust governed by another state's law owns Connecticut land, which state's law decides whether creditors can reach it? {#connecticut-land} **Short answer.** Whether a settlor's creditors can reach Connecticut land held in another state's self-settled trust is probably decided by Connecticut law, because federal courts following the Restatement (Second) of Conflict of Laws apply the law of the state where the land is. [^huckaby-situs-law-creditor-reach] [^anselmi-situs-law-beneficial-interest-in-land] No Connecticut appellate decision on the question was found in our review. In *United States v. Huckaby*, a federal district court in California applied federal common-law choice-of-law rules that follow the Restatement [^huckaby-federal-choice-of-law-restatement] and found its § 280 persuasive on whether a beneficiary's interest in a trust of land can be reached by creditors, quoting it as sending that question to the law the situs courts would apply. [^huckaby-situs-law-creditor-reach] The settlors were also the trustees and sole lifetime beneficiaries [^huckaby-settlors-trustees-beneficiaries], and they argued that Nevada law governed because the trust's terms designated it a Nevada spendthrift trust. [^huckaby-nevada-designation-argument] Because the land was in California, the court applied California law. [^huckaby-california-land-california-law] It held the judgment liens enforceable against the property to the extent of the debtor's interest. [^huckaby-liens-enforceable] The order is dated March 3, 2026, and is a federal trial-court order that does not bind Connecticut courts. As of this guide's October 5, 2026 review, the latest record found in the case was a May 26, 2026 order, which recites that the government moved for an order of judicial sale on April 20, 2026. [^huckaby-judicial-sale-motion] In *In re Anselmi* (Bankr. D. Wyo. 1985), the court stated that when the trust property is real property, the law of the situs of the land decides whether a beneficiary's interest is exempt from creditors' process, citing Restatement § 280. [^anselmi-situs-law-beneficial-interest-in-land] *F.P.P. Enterprises v. United States* (D. Neb. 1986) stated that the validity of a trust of an interest in land is determined by the law the situs courts would apply, citing § 278. [^fpp-validity-situs-law] *Hartsfield v. Lescher* (E.D. Ark. 1989) quoted § 279 for the same rule on administration of a trust of land. [^hartsfield-administration-situs-law] These federal decisions do not bind Connecticut courts. The only Connecticut statement found in our review is dictum in a 1960 Superior Court decision, *Stetson v. Morgan Guaranty Trust Co.*, that the validity of a trust of realty has generally been determined by the law of the situs, and that courts tend to respect the settlor's chosen law. [^stetson-realty-situs-dictum] [^stetson-settlor-choice-tendency] Connecticut's trust code honors a trust's chosen law for the meaning and effect of its terms unless that choice is contrary to a strong public policy of the jurisdiction with the most significant relationship. [^ct-499g-governing-law-public-policy] Read together, the situs authorities suggest that a Connecticut court asked about Connecticut land held directly in another state's self-settled trust would probably apply Connecticut law to the creditor question, unless the trust's own choice of law were honored; that prediction is an inference, not a holding. Under Connecticut law outside the Act, *Greenwich Trust Co. v. Tyson* holds that a settlor's creditors can reach the trust income when the settlor is the sole person entitled to it [^tyson-settlor-income-reachable-situs], and the same applies to income the trustee may pay to the settlor in its discretion. [^tyson-discretionary-income-situs] *Netter v. Netter*, a divorce property-division ruling, states that a self-settled spendthrift trust that does not satisfy the Act is governed by prior Connecticut law and void as a matter of public policy. [^netter-noncompliant-trust-void-situs] *In re Brooks*, a federal bankruptcy decision applying Connecticut law that does not bind Connecticut courts, applied the rule that a settlor's creditors can reach the maximum amount of income or principal the trustee could pay to the settlor. [^brooks-discretionary-principal-rule-land] [^brooks-rule-applied-income-and-principal-land] Read together, principal the trustee could distribute to the settlor is likely reachable as well. Whether creditors can reach principal outside any power to distribute it to the settlor, or the land itself, is not established by the authorities found in our review. ## What happens to a Connecticut joint tenancy when one owner deeds a share to a trust? {#joint-ownership-deeds} **Short answer.** When one joint tenant conveys his or her interest to a trustee, Connecticut law severs the joint tenancy as to that interest, and the trustee holds it as a tenant in common with the remaining owner. [^ct-47-14c-conveyance-severs-joint-tenancy] Read with that rule, the conveyed share no longer carries the joint tenants' right of survivorship, because the trustee holds it as a tenant in common rather than as a joint tenant. [^ct-47-14c-conveyance-severs-joint-tenancy] Connecticut does not recognize tenancy by the entirety. A deed to two grantees as tenants by the entirety creates a joint tenancy with right of survivorship [^ct-47-14a-entirety-deed-creates-joint-tenancy], and in *New Haven Trolley & Bus Employees Credit Union v. Hill* (1958) the Connecticut Supreme Court said Connecticut early refused to recognize that estate. [^new-haven-trolley-no-tenancy-by-entirety] During a joint tenant's life, that owner's interest can be attached, liened or sold on execution as if it were held as a tenant in common. [^ct-47-14f-joint-tenant-interest-attachable] This suggests that moving one spouse's share of Connecticut land into a trust gives up no entireties-style creditor protection, because Connecticut joint tenancy does not provide it. A Connecticut deed must be in writing, signed by the grantor, acknowledged, and attested by two witnesses. [^ct-47-5-deed-two-witnesses] It must also state the grantee's current mailing address. [^ct-47-5-grantee-mailing-address] The statute quoted here is the text revised to January 1, 2025; this guide's October 5, 2026 review found no later amendment to § 47-5 in the 2026 Supplement or in the Public Acts of the 2026 regular session. Because the trustee becomes the holder of the conveyed share [^ct-47-14c-conveyance-severs-joint-tenancy], whether an existing owner's title insurance policy continues to protect the trustee depends on that policy's terms, which this guide does not review. The title insurer that issued the policy is the source for that confirmation. ## Does holding Connecticut land through an LLC owned by the trust change creditors' remedies or transfer taxes? {#llc-holding} **Short answer.** For a Connecticut limited liability company, a judgment creditor of a member can collect from the member's interest only through a charging order, and foreclosure of that interest is unavailable whether the company has one member or more. [^ct-34-259b-charging-order-exclusive] A charging order is a lien that entitles the creditor only to distributions the member would otherwise have received. [^ct-34-259b-charging-order-distributions-only] The charging-order limit applies when a judgment creditor enforces a judgment against the member or transferee that holds the interest. [^ct-34-259b-charging-order-exclusive] Whether a trust or its trustee is a member of a trust-owned LLC depends on admission under the LLC Act: at formation, a person becomes a member as agreed with the organizer or among the initial members, and afterward as the operating agreement provides, through an entity transaction, with the consent of all members, or in the other case the statute lists. [^ct-34-255-becoming-a-member] Our reading is that a creditor of the trust's settlor needs a separate legal basis to reach a trust-held interest at all, such as the self-settled trust rules discussed in the question on self-settled trusts that do not meet the Act's requirements; the charging-order limit then governs how a judgment against the holder of the interest is enforced. [^ct-34-259b-charging-order-distributions-only] Connecticut law governs the internal affairs of a Connecticut LLC and whether its members are liable for its debts, while the law of the formation state governs those matters for a foreign LLC. [^ct-34-243c-ct-llc-governing-law] [^ct-34-275-foreign-llc-governing-law] Whether a charging-order limit counts as an internal affair, and so follows the formation state when a Connecticut creditor sues, is not settled by those sections. Holding land through an LLC may not change which state's law applies to a Connecticut settlor's trust. In *In re Brooks*, a bankruptcy court in Connecticut applied Connecticut law to certificates the debtor had routed into Bermuda and Jersey spendthrift trusts [^brooks-stock-in-offshore-trusts-llc] and held the spendthrift provisions unenforceable. [^brooks-spendthrift-unenforceable-llc] Read together, this suggests that converting land into an LLC interest does not by itself take a Connecticut settlor's self-settled trust outside Connecticut law. Connecticut's real estate conveyance tax applies only when the consideration is at least $2,000, at a state rate starting at 0.75 percent plus a base municipal portion of 0.25 percent. [^ct-12-494-conveyance-tax-consideration] A targeted investment community, or a municipality with properties designated as manufacturing plants under § 32-75c, may impose an additional tax of up to 0.25 percent of the consideration on the same conveyances. [^ct-12-494c-additional-municipal-tax] Deeds for less than $2,000, deeds between spouses, and transfers that are a mere change of identity or form of ownership with no change in beneficial ownership are exempt. [^ct-12-498-conveyance-tax-exemptions] Whether a deed into a self-settled trust, or into an LLC the trust owns, is a mere change of form with no change in beneficial ownership is not answered by the statute text. The regulation on what counts as consideration, including an assumed mortgage, was not reviewed for this guide. Connecticut also taxes the sale or transfer of a controlling interest, meaning more than 50 percent, in an entity that possesses, directly or indirectly, an interest in Connecticut real property whose present true and actual value is at least $2,000. [^ct-12-638b-controlling-interest-tax-rate] The tax is 1.11 percent of the present true and actual value of that direct or indirect interest in Connecticut real property, and a trust counts as an entity for this purpose. [^ct-12-638a-controlling-interest-includes-trust] [^ct-12-638b-controlling-interest-tax-rate] Section 12-638b(a)(1) itself does not mention consideration [^ct-12-638b-controlling-interest-tax-rate], but the Department of Revenue Services describes the tax as imposed on the sale or transfer for consideration of a controlling interest. [^ct-drs-controlling-interest-for-consideration] Read together, a genuinely gratuitous transfer of a controlling LLC interest to the trust appears to fall outside the tax on the Department's reading, while a transfer made for noncash consideration may still be a transfer for consideration under that description. The mere-change-of-form exemption also applies to this tax, and its application to a self-settled trust is untested in the authorities reviewed for this guide. [^ct-12-638b-mere-change-of-form-exemption] ## Can spouses share one Connecticut asset protection trust, and who is the transferor when one spouse's will funds the other's trust? {#spouses} **Short answer.** The Connecticut Act's transferor definition makes each spouse who directly or indirectly makes or causes a transfer the transferor of that property, so each spouse's contributions to a trust would be tested as that spouse's own dispositions. [^ct-487k-transferor-direct-or-indirect] The Act does not address joint trusts for spouses. Each disposition has its own limitation period. [^ct-487p-limitation-periods-each-disposition] When several dispositions are made under one trust instrument, a later disposition does not revive a claim already barred as to an earlier one, and any distribution is treated as coming from the latest disposition. [^ct-487p-multiple-dispositions-same-instrument] Read with that definition, in a single joint trust each spouse would usually be both a transferor and a beneficiary of the other spouse's contributions. *In re Brooks* shows the risk of that mixing: the court treated trusts funded by one spouse, with property the other spouse had transferred to the funding spouse under a shared plan, as self-settled by the spouse who supplied the property. [^brooks-wife-funded-trusts-plan-spouses] The court also relied on the Restatement rule that a trust is self-settled when the beneficiary paid the purchase price for the transfer into trust. [^brooks-purchase-price-settlor-rule] This suggests that separate trusts, each funded only with the funding spouse's own property, keep the transferor of each asset easier to establish. [^ct-487k-transferor-direct-or-indirect] When one spouse's will leaves property to the trustee of the other spouse's qualified trust, a literal reading makes the deceased spouse the transferor of that property: the deceased spouse owned it and, through the will and the executor's transfer, indirectly caused the disposition, which the definition covers. The Act does not mention wills or executors, and no Connecticut decision testing this reading was found in our review. [^ct-487k-transferor-direct-or-indirect] If so, the surviving spouse's interest in that share is a third-party interest, which general Connecticut spendthrift law protects. *Netter v. Netter* restated that a spendthrift trust is one that creates a fund for another and places it beyond the beneficiary's creditors. [^netter-spendthrift-trust-definition] A share that simply requires income to be paid to the surviving spouse, with no accumulation, withholding or support terms, leaves that income reachable by all of the survivor's creditors under § 52-321(a). [^ct-52-321-mandatory-income-reachable] That treatment could change if the survivor gave something for the bequest, such as a waiver of statutory share rights, reciprocal wills or a contract to make a will. Under the purchase-price rule *Brooks* applied, the survivor could then be treated as the settlor of that share, making it self-settled. [^brooks-purchase-price-settlor-rule] No Connecticut decision on this point was found in our review, and Connecticut's statutory share provisions were not reviewed for this guide. [^about]: By Steven Obiajulu, J.D. Published by [openagreements.org](https://openagreements.org). Last reviewed 2026-10-05. License: CC BY 4.0. Steven Obiajulu, J.D. is admitted in New York, not Connecticut. This article synthesizes Connecticut primary law and is not legal advice from a Connecticut-admitted attorney. This article is for informational purposes only and does not create an attorney-client relationship. Source excerpts and linked materials belong to their owners. CC BY 4.0. Cite as Steven Obiajulu, *Connecticut Asset Protection Trusts: Qualified Dispositions, Creditors, Divorce and Land*, OpenAgreements (last updated October 5, 2026), https://openagreements.org/practice-guides/asset-protection-trusts/us/connecticut. [^ct-487k-trust-instrument-three-requirements]: **Conn. Gen. Stat. § 45a-487k(10)** — "‘Trust instrument’ means an instrument, in writing, appointing at least one qualified trustee for the property that is the subject of a disposition, which instrument: (A) Expressly provides that the laws of this state govern the validity, construction and administration of the trust; (B) Is irrevocable; and (C) Provides that the interest of the transferor or other beneficiary in the trust property or the income from the trust property may not be transferred, assigned, pledged or mortgaged, whether voluntarily or involuntarily, before the qualified trustee or qualified trustees actually distribute the property or income from the trust property to or for the benefit of the beneficiary, and the provision of the trust instrument shall be deemed to be a restriction on the transfer of the transferor's beneficial interest in the trust that is enforceable under applicable nonbankruptcy law within the meaning of 11 USC 541(c)(2), as amended from time to time." *Conn. Gen. Stat. § 45a-487k(10).* [^ct-487m-nonqualified-trustee-transfer-exception]: **Conn. Gen. Stat. § 45a-487m(c)** — "A trustee of a trust who is not a qualified trustee may transfer the assets of a trust to a qualified trustee. Notwithstanding the provisions of subparagraph (A) of subdivision (9) of section 45a-487k, a disposition by a trustee who is not a qualified trustee to a trustee who is a qualified trustee will not fail to qualify as a qualified disposition solely because the trust instrument does not contain an express provision that the laws of this state govern the validity, construction and administration of the trust." *Conn. Gen. Stat. § 45a-487m(c).* [^ct-487j-short-title-pa-19-137]: **Conn. Gen. Stat. § 45a-487j** — "This section and sections 45a-487k to 45a-487s, inclusive, may be cited as the ‘Connecticut Qualified Dispositions in Trust Act’. (P.A. 19-137, S. 99.) History: P.A. 19-137 effective January 1, 2020." *Conn. Gen. Stat. § 45a-487j (P.A. 19-137, § 99).* [^ct-487s-dispositions-on-or-after-2020]: **Conn. Gen. Stat. § 45a-487s** — "The provisions of this section and sections 45a-487k to 45a-487r, inclusive, apply to qualified dispositions made on or after January 1, 2020." *Conn. Gen. Stat. § 45a-487s.* [^ct-487n-veto-appointment-income]: **Conn. Gen. Stat. § 45a-487n(1)-(3)** — "For purposes of subparagraph (B) of subdivision (10) of section 45a-487k, a trust instrument is irrevocable regardless of whether the transferor retained any of the following rights, powers and interests: (1) A transferor's power to veto a distribution from the trust; (2) A power of appointment, other than a power to appoint to the transferor, the transferor's creditors, the transferor's estate or the creditors of the transferor's estate, exercisable by will or other written instrument of the transferor and effective only upon the transferor's death; (3) The transferor's potential or actual receipt of income, including rights to such income retained in the trust instrument;" *Conn. Gen. Stat. § 45a-487n(1)-(3).* [^ct-487n-principal-trustee-discretion]: **Conn. Gen. Stat. § 45a-487n(6)** — "(6) The transferor's potential or actual receipt or use of principal if the potential or actual receipt or use of principal would be the result of a qualified trustee acting: (A) In the discretion of the qualified trustee; (B) Pursuant to a standard that governs the distribution of principal and does not confer upon the transferor a substantially unfettered right to the receipt or use of the principal; or (C) At the direction of a trust director described in section 45a-487l who is acting in the director's discretion, or pursuant to a standard that governs the distribution of principal and does not confer upon the transferor a substantially unfettered right to the receipt of or use of principal. For purposes of this subparagraph, a qualified trustee is presumed to have discretion with respect to the distribution of principal unless such discretion is expressly denied to the trustee by the terms of the trust instrument;" *Conn. Gen. Stat. § 45a-487n(6).* [^ct-487o-side-agreement-void]: **Conn. Gen. Stat. § 45a-487o** — "The transferor shall have only such powers and rights as are conferred by the trust instrument. Except as provided in the trust instrument, and permitted by section 45a-487l and in section 45a-487n, a transferor has no rights or authority with respect to the property that is the subject of a qualified disposition or the income therefrom, and any agreement or understanding purporting to grant or permit the retention of any greater rights or authority is void." *Conn. Gen. Stat. § 45a-487o.* [^ct-487q-family-debts-preserved-qualifying]: **Conn. Gen. Stat. § 45a-487q(1)** — "Notwithstanding the provisions of section 45a-487p, sections 45a-487j to 45a-487s, inclusive, shall not apply to defeat a claim brought by: (1) A person to whom the transferor is indebted on or before the date of a qualified disposition on account of an agreement or order of court for payment of support or alimony in favor of the transferor's spouse, former spouse or children, or for a division or distribution of property in favor of the transferor's spouse or former spouse, but only to the extent of the debt; or" *Conn. Gen. Stat. § 45a-487q(1).* [^ct-487q-pre-transfer-torts-preserved-qualifying]: **Conn. Gen. Stat. § 45a-487q(2)** — "(2) To any person who suffers death, personal injury or property damage on or before the date of a qualified disposition by a transferor, which death, personal injury or property damage is at any time determined to have been caused, in whole or in part, by the tortious act or omission of the transferor or by another person for whom the transferor is or was vicariously liable, but only to the extent of the claim against the transferor or other person for whom the transferor is or was vicariously liable." *Conn. Gen. Stat. § 45a-487q(2).* [^ct-487p-ufta-only-route-clear-convincing]: **Conn. Gen. Stat. § 45a-487p(a)** — "Notwithstanding any provision of the general statutes, no action of any kind, including, without limitation, an action to enforce a judgment entered by a court or other body having adjudicative authority, shall be brought at law or in equity for an attachment or other provisional remedy against property that is the subject of a qualified disposition or for avoidance of a qualified disposition, unless the action is brought pursuant to section 52-552h. In any such action, the creditor has the burden to prove each element by clear and convincing evidence." *Conn. Gen. Stat. § 45a-487p(a).* [^ct-487k-qualified-trustee-excludes-transferor]: **Conn. Gen. Stat. § 45a-487k(9)(B)** — "‘Qualified trustee’ does not include (i) the transferor, (ii) any other individual who is a nonresident of this state, or (iii) an entity that is not authorized by the laws of this state to act as a trustee or whose activities are not subject to supervision as provided in subparagraph (A) of this subdivision." *Conn. Gen. Stat. § 45a-487k(9)(B).* [^ct-487k-qualified-trustee-residence-and-activities]: **Conn. Gen. Stat. § 45a-487k(9)(A)** — "Any person, other than the transferor, who in the case of an individual, is a resident of this state or who, in all other cases, is a state or federally chartered bank or trust company having a place of business in this state, is authorized to engage in a trust business in this state, and maintains or arranges for custody in this state of some or all of the property that is the subject of the qualified disposition, maintains records in this state for the trust on an exclusive or nonexclusive basis, prepares or arranges for the preparation in this state of fiduciary income tax returns for the trust, or otherwise materially participates in this state in the administration of the trust." *Conn. Gen. Stat. § 45a-487k(9)(A).* [^ct-487n-removal-power-not-related-party]: **Conn. Gen. Stat. § 45a-487n(6)-(7)** — "For purposes of this subparagraph, a qualified trustee is presumed to have discretion with respect to the distribution of principal unless such discretion is expressly denied to the trustee by the terms of the trust instrument; (7) The transferor's right to remove a trustee or director and to appoint a new trustee or director, other than a person who is a related or subordinate party with respect to the transferor within the meaning of 26 USC 672(c), as amended from time to time;" *Conn. Gen. Stat. § 45a-487n(7).* [^ct-487l-transferor-director-veto-only]: **Conn. Gen. Stat. § 45a-487l(b)** — "A transferor may serve as trust director, but the power of a trust director, who is the transferor shall be limited to the retention of the veto right permitted by subdivision (1) of section 45a-487n." *Conn. Gen. Stat. § 45a-487l(b).* [^ct-487p-trustee-ceases-if-ct-law-rejected]: **Conn. Gen. Stat. § 45a-487p(g)** — "If, in any action brought against a trustee of a trust that is funded, in whole or in part, by a qualified disposition, a court takes any action whereby the court declines to apply the law of this state in determining the validity, construction or administration of the trust, or the effect of a spendthrift provision of the trust, the trustee shall immediately, upon the court's action and without the further order of any court, cease in all respects to be a trustee of the trust and (1) a successor trustee shall thereupon succeed as trustee in accordance with the terms of the trust instrument; or (2) if the trust instrument does not provide for a successor trustee and the trust would otherwise be without a trustee, the court having jurisdiction pursuant to sections 45a-499o and 45a-499p, upon the application of any beneficiary of the trust, shall appoint a successor trustee upon such terms and conditions as it determines to be consistent with the purposes of the trust and the provisions of this section." *Conn. Gen. Stat. § 45a-487p(g).* [^netter-disinterested-trustee-defeats-control-finding]: **Netter v. Netter** — "As with The Six Cataracts Trust, however, the disinterested trustee, South Dakota Trust, must approve any and all distributions from the trusts, and, thus, the court’s finding that the defendant has exclusive control over the three self-settled trusts and the distributions therefrom cannot be sustained." *Netter v. Netter, 235 Conn. App. 774 (2025).* [^netter-trusts-divisible-despite-trustee-approval]: **Netter v. Netter** — "For these reasons, we conclude that the court properly determined that the three self-settled trusts constitute divisible marital property." *Netter v. Netter, 235 Conn. App. 774 (2025).* [^ct-487p-two-limitation-periods]: **Conn. Gen. Stat. § 45a-487p(b)** — "(b) Notwithstanding the provisions of section 52-552j, a creditor may not bring an action under subsection (a) of this section if: (1) The creditor's claim against the transferor arose before the qualified disposition was made, unless the action is brought within four years after the qualified disposition is made or, if later, within one year after the qualified disposition was or could reasonably have been discovered by the creditor; or (2) The creditor's claim against the transferor arose subsequent to the qualified disposition, unless the action is brought within four years after the qualified disposition is made." *Conn. Gen. Stat. § 45a-487p(b).* [^ct-487q-family-debts-preserved-deadline]: **Conn. Gen. Stat. § 45a-487q(1)** — "Notwithstanding the provisions of section 45a-487p, sections 45a-487j to 45a-487s, inclusive, shall not apply to defeat a claim brought by: (1) A person to whom the transferor is indebted on or before the date of a qualified disposition on account of an agreement or order of court for payment of support or alimony in favor of the transferor's spouse, former spouse or children, or for a division or distribution of property in favor of the transferor's spouse or former spouse, but only to the extent of the debt; or" *Conn. Gen. Stat. § 45a-487q(1).* [^ct-487q-pre-transfer-torts-preserved-deadline]: **Conn. Gen. Stat. § 45a-487q(2)** — "(2) To any person who suffers death, personal injury or property damage on or before the date of a qualified disposition by a transferor, which death, personal injury or property damage is at any time determined to have been caused, in whole or in part, by the tortious act or omission of the transferor or by another person for whom the transferor is or was vicariously liable, but only to the extent of the claim against the transferor or other person for whom the transferor is or was vicariously liable." *Conn. Gen. Stat. § 45a-487q(2).* [^ct-487p-clear-convincing-burden]: **Conn. Gen. Stat. § 45a-487p(a)** — "Notwithstanding any provision of the general statutes, no action of any kind, including, without limitation, an action to enforce a judgment entered by a court or other body having adjudicative authority, shall be brought at law or in equity for an attachment or other provisional remedy against property that is the subject of a qualified disposition or for avoidance of a qualified disposition, unless the action is brought pursuant to section 52-552h. In any such action, the creditor has the burden to prove each element by clear and convincing evidence." *Conn. Gen. Stat. § 45a-487p(a).* [^ct-ufta-short-title]: **Conn. Gen. Stat. § 52-552a** — "Sections 52-552a to 52-552l, inclusive, may be cited as the ‘Uniform Fraudulent Transfer Act’." *Conn. Gen. Stat. § 52-552a.* [^ct-487r-avoidance-only-to-extent-of-debt]: **Conn. Gen. Stat. § 45a-487r(a)** — "A qualified disposition shall be avoided only to the extent necessary to satisfy the transferor's debt to the creditor at whose instance the disposition had been avoided, together with any costs, including attorney's fees, that the court may allow." *Conn. Gen. Stat. § 45a-487r(a).* [^ct-487r-beneficiary-retains-good-faith-distributions]: **Conn. Gen. Stat. § 45a-487r(b)(2)** — "If the court is satisfied that a beneficiary of a trust has not acted in bad faith, the avoidance of the qualified disposition shall be subject to the right of the beneficiary to retain any distribution made upon the exercise of a trust power or discretion vested in the trustee of the trust, which power or discretion was properly exercised prior to the creditor's commencement of an action to avoid the qualified disposition." *Conn. Gen. Stat. § 45a-487r(b)(2).* [^ct-487r-transferor-beneficiary-bad-faith-standard]: **Conn. Gen. Stat. § 45a-487r(c)** — "A creditor has the burden of proving by clear and convincing evidence that a trustee or beneficiary acted in bad faith as set forth in subsection (b) of this section, except, in the case of a beneficiary who is also the transferor, the burden on the creditor is to prove by a preponderance of the evidence that the transferor-beneficiary acted in bad faith." *Conn. Gen. Stat. § 45a-487r(c).* [^ct-487p-no-claim-against-trustee-or-advisers]: **Conn. Gen. Stat. § 45a-487p(d)** — "Notwithstanding any provision of the general statutes, a creditor, including a creditor whose claim arose before or after a qualified disposition, or any other person shall have only such rights with respect to a qualified disposition as are provided in this section and sections 45a-487q and 45a-487r, and no such creditor nor any other person shall have any claim or cause of action against the trustee, or trust director, as described in section 45a-487l, of a trust that is the subject of a qualified disposition, or against any person involved in the counseling, drafting, preparation, execution or funding of a trust that is the subject of a qualified disposition." *Conn. Gen. Stat. § 45a-487p(d).* [^ct-52-552e-present-creditors-only]: **Conn. Gen. Stat. § 52-552e(a)** — "Sec. 52-552e. Transfers fraudulent as to present creditors. (a) A transfer made or obligation incurred by a debtor is fraudulent as to a creditor, if the creditor's claim arose before the transfer was made or the obligation was incurred and if the debtor made the transfer or incurred the obligation: (1) With actual intent to hinder, delay or defraud any creditor of the debtor; or (2) without receiving a reasonably equivalent value in exchange for the transfer or obligation, and the debtor (A) was engaged or was about to engage in a business or a transaction for which the remaining assets of the debtor were unreasonably small in relation to the business or transaction, or (B) intended to incur, or believed or reasonably should have believed that he would incur, debts beyond his ability to pay as they became due." *Conn. Gen. Stat. § 52-552e(a).* [^carrozzella-future-creditors-doubt]: **Daly v. Parete (In re Carrozzella & Richardson)** — "Yet even if that Section had been properly raised, it is not at all clear that it would apply to an instance of actual intent to defraud future creditors." *Daly v. Parete (In re Carrozzella & Richardson), 270 B.R. 92 (Bankr. D. Conn. 2001).* [^ct-487q-support-alimony-property-division]: **Conn. Gen. Stat. § 45a-487q(1)** — "Notwithstanding the provisions of section 45a-487p, sections 45a-487j to 45a-487s, inclusive, shall not apply to defeat a claim brought by: (1) A person to whom the transferor is indebted on or before the date of a qualified disposition on account of an agreement or order of court for payment of support or alimony in favor of the transferor's spouse, former spouse or children, or for a division or distribution of property in favor of the transferor's spouse or former spouse, but only to the extent of the debt; or" *Conn. Gen. Stat. § 45a-487q(1).* [^ct-487q-pre-transfer-torts]: **Conn. Gen. Stat. § 45a-487q(2)** — "(2) To any person who suffers death, personal injury or property damage on or before the date of a qualified disposition by a transferor, which death, personal injury or property damage is at any time determined to have been caused, in whole or in part, by the tortious act or omission of the transferor or by another person for whom the transferor is or was vicariously liable, but only to the extent of the claim against the transferor or other person for whom the transferor is or was vicariously liable." *Conn. Gen. Stat. § 45a-487q(2).* [^ct-487k-spouse-married-at-or-before]: **Conn. Gen. Stat. § 45a-487k(7)** — "(7) ‘Spouse’ and ‘former spouse’ means only persons to whom the transferor was married at, or before, the time the qualified disposition is made." *Conn. Gen. Stat. § 45a-487k(7).* [^ct-46b-81-assign-estate]: **Conn. Gen. Stat. § 46b-81(a)** — "At the time of entering a decree annulling or dissolving a marriage or for legal separation pursuant to a complaint under section 46b-45, the Superior Court may assign to either spouse all or any part of the estate of the other spouse." *Conn. Gen. Stat. § 46b-81(a).* [^ct-487k-medicaid-carve-out]: **Conn. Gen. Stat. § 45a-487k(6)** — "‘Qualified disposition’ means a disposition by or from a transferor to a trustee, with or without consideration, by means of a trust instrument. ‘Qualified disposition’ does not include a disposition: (A) In derogation of any state or federal agency claim or right of recovery under 42 USC Chapter 7, Subchapter XIX against a trust established by a transferor or such transferor's spouse, or (B) in respect to a state or federal agency treatment of the trust instrument in a determination of a transferor's eligibility under a state plan under 42 USC Chapter 7, Subchapter XIX." *Conn. Gen. Stat. § 45a-487k(6).* [^netter-self-settled-trusts-violate-public-policy]: **Netter v. Netter** — "We also agree with the defendant that the three self-settled trusts are spendthrift trusts, but we agree with the plaintiff that, as self-settled spendthrift trusts, they violate the well established public policy of Connecticut that applies under the facts and circumstances of this case and, consequently, we conclude that the court properly determined that they are divisible marital property under § 46b-81." *Netter v. Netter, 235 Conn. App. 774 (2025).* [^netter-south-dakota-law-governs-interpretation]: **Netter v. Netter** — "As such, we agree with the defendant that South Dakota law governs our interpretation of these trust agreements." *Netter v. Netter, 235 Conn. App. 774 (2025).* [^netter-not-valid-trust-instruments]: **Netter v. Netter** — "As such, they are not valid trust instruments within the context of the Connecticut act." *Netter v. Netter, 235 Conn. App. 774 (2025).* [^ct-487k-governing-law-requirement-divorce]: **Conn. Gen. Stat. § 45a-487k(10)** — "‘Trust instrument’ means an instrument, in writing, appointing at least one qualified trustee for the property that is the subject of a disposition, which instrument: (A) Expressly provides that the laws of this state govern the validity, construction and administration of the trust; (B) Is irrevocable; and (C) Provides that the interest of the transferor or other beneficiary in the trust property or the income from the trust property may not be transferred, assigned, pledged or mortgaged, whether voluntarily or involuntarily, before the qualified trustee or qualified trustees actually distribute the property or income from the trust property to or for the benefit of the beneficiary, and the provision of the trust instrument shall be deemed to be a restriction on the transfer of the transferor's beneficial interest in the trust that is enforceable under applicable nonbankruptcy law within the meaning of 11 USC 541(c)(2), as amended from time to time." *Conn. Gen. Stat. § 45a-487k(10)(A).* [^ct-487m-transfer-to-qualified-trustee]: **Conn. Gen. Stat. § 45a-487m(c)** — "A trustee of a trust who is not a qualified trustee may transfer the assets of a trust to a qualified trustee. Notwithstanding the provisions of subparagraph (A) of subdivision (9) of section 45a-487k, a disposition by a trustee who is not a qualified trustee to a trustee who is a qualified trustee will not fail to qualify as a qualified disposition solely because the trust instrument does not contain an express provision that the laws of this state govern the validity, construction and administration of the trust." *Conn. Gen. Stat. § 45a-487m(c).* [^netter-noncompliant-trust-void-rule]: **Netter v. Netter** — "Thus, if a self-settled spendthrift trust agreement does not satisfy the Connecticut act’s requirements, or if a court finds that sustaining a self-settled spendthrift trust would substantially prejudice the rights of the parties, the law as it existed in Connecticut prior to the legislation is applicable; see General Statutes § 45a-487t (a) (3); and the trust will be void as a matter of public policy." *Netter v. Netter, 235 Conn. App. 774 (2025).* [^netter-assets-moved-before-divorce]: **Netter v. Netter** — "Our review of the trial court’s decision, and these unchallenged findings in particular, reveals that the trial court was particularly concerned about the defendant’s duplicitous efforts to place most of the marital assets beyond the plaintiff’s reach by putting them in the three self-settled South Dakota spendthrift trusts he created when he knew the marriage was in trouble and that a divorce was imminent." *Netter v. Netter, 235 Conn. App. 774 (2025).* [^netter-self-settled-trusts-divisible-conclusion]: **Netter v. Netter** — "For these reasons, we conclude that the court properly determined that the three self-settled trusts constitute divisible marital property." *Netter v. Netter, 235 Conn. App. 774 (2025).* [^netter-father-created-spendthrift-trust]: **Netter v. Netter** — "The Six Cataracts Trust, which the defendant’s father established nearly thirteen years prior to the parties’ marriage, is a spendthrift trust that provides a fund for the benefit of the defendant and his descendants." *Netter v. Netter, 235 Conn. App. 774 (2025).* [^netter-third-party-trust-not-divisible]: **Netter v. Netter** — "The defendant has no presently enforceable right to receive the interest in the trust and the court should not have considered it an asset of the marital estate that it was authorized to divide under § 46b-81." *Netter v. Netter, 235 Conn. App. 774 (2025).* [^netter-remand-financial-orders]: **Netter v. Netter** — "The judgment is reversed only as to the financial orders and the case is remanded for a new trial on all financial issues consistent with this opinion; the appeal is dismissed as to the custody order insofar as it pertains to the parties’ older child; the judgment is affirmed in all other respects." *Netter v. Netter, 235 Conn. App. 774 (2025).* [^ct-487t-pre-2020-proceedings-prejudice]: **Conn. Gen. Stat. § 45a-487t(a)(3)** — "(3) Sections 45a-487j to 45a-487s, inclusive, and 45a-499a to 45a-500s, inclusive, apply to judicial proceedings concerning trusts commenced before January 1, 2020, unless the court in which the judicial proceeding is pending finds that application of a particular provision of sections 45a-487j to 45a-487s, inclusive, and 45a-499a to 45a-500s, inclusive, would substantially interfere with the effective conduct of the judicial proceedings or prejudice the rights of the parties. If the court finds substantial interference or prejudice, the particular provision of sections 45a-487j to 45a-487s, inclusive, and 45a-499a to 45a-500s, inclusive, do not apply and the superseded law applies." *Conn. Gen. Stat. § 45a-487t(a)(3).* [^tyson-settlor-sole-income-reachable]: **Greenwich Trust Co. v. Tyson** — "If in such a trust the settlor is the sole person entitled to the income, that income can be reached by his creditors." *Greenwich Trust Co. v. Tyson, 129 Conn. 211 (1942).* [^tyson-discretionary-income-reachable]: **Greenwich Trust Co. v. Tyson** — "The public policy which subjects to the demands of a settlor’s creditors the income of a trust which the trustee in his discretion may pay to the settlor applies no less to a case where the trustee might in his discretion pay or use the income for others." *Greenwich Trust Co. v. Tyson, 129 Conn. 211 (1942).* [^tyson-self-settled-policy-overborne]: **Greenwich Trust Co. v. Tyson** — "The attempt of a man to place his property in trust for his own benefit under limitations similar to those which characterize a spendthrift trust is a departure from the underlying basis for the creation of such trusts. That aside, the public policy which sustains such trusts when created for the benefit of another is, where the settlor is himself the beneficiary, overborne by other considerations." *Greenwich Trust Co. v. Tyson, 129 Conn. 211 (1942).* [^brooks-discretionary-principal-rule-nonqualifying]: **Sattin v. Brooks (In re Brooks)** — "Where by the terms of the trust a trustee is to pay the settlor or apply for his benefit as much of the income or principal as the trustee may in his discretion determine, his transferee or creditors can reach the maximum amount which the trustee could pay to him or apply for his benefit." *In re Brooks, 217 B.R. 98 (Bankr. D. Conn. 1998).* [^brooks-rule-applied-income-and-principal-nonqualifying]: **Sattin v. Brooks (In re Brooks)** — "The Cantor court essentially described the trust provisions here, i.e., the trustees are to pay to the debtor-settlor all of the income and as much of the principal as is deemed advisable in their discretion. Accordingly, the spendthrift provisions of these trusts are not enforceable under applicable Connecticut law." *In re Brooks, 217 B.R. 98 (Bankr. D. Conn. 1998).* [^brooks-transferred-property-in-estate]: **Sattin v. Brooks (In re Brooks)** — "For the foregoing reasons, the plaintiffs motion for summary judgment is granted, and it is determined that stock certificates transferred by the debtor to Kathryn Frazer Brooks are property of this bankruptcy estate, and IT IS SO ORDERED." *In re Brooks, 217 B.R. 98 (Bankr. D. Conn. 1998).* [^netter-pre-act-law-governs-noncompliant-trust]: **Netter v. Netter** — "Thus, if a self-settled spendthrift trust agreement does not satisfy the Connecticut act’s requirements, or if a court finds that sustaining a self-settled spendthrift trust would substantially prejudice the rights of the parties, the law as it existed in Connecticut prior to the legislation is applicable; see General Statutes § 45a-487t (a) (3); and the trust will be void as a matter of public policy." *Netter v. Netter, 235 Conn. App. 774 (2025).* [^ct-499nn-settlor-creditors-excluded]: **Conn. Gen. Stat. § 45a-499nn(a)** — "(a) For all purposes under this section and section 45a-499mm, a creditor of a beneficiary, other than a creditor of the settlor if the settlor is a beneficiary of the trust, may not attach or compel a distribution of property that is subject to: (1) A power of withdrawal held by the beneficiary if the value of the property subject to the power does not exceed the greater of the amount specified in Section 2041(b)(2) or 2514(e) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, or any subsequent corresponding internal revenue code of the United States, as amended from time to time, and the regulations thereunder, or Section 2503(b) of said Internal Revenue Code and the regulations thereunder, in each case as in effect on January 1, 2020;" *Conn. Gen. Stat. § 45a-499nn(a).* [^brooks-transfer-through-wife-plan]: **Sattin v. Brooks (In re Brooks)** — "The undisputed fact is that the debtor and his wife undertook a plan whereby he would transfer the certificates to her, and then she would transfer that property to Bermuda and Jersey spendthrift trusts for his benefit. The debtor performed his part of the scheme, and so did she." *In re Brooks, 217 B.R. 98 (Bankr. D. Conn. 1998).* [^brooks-trusts-determined-self-settled]: **Sattin v. Brooks (In re Brooks)** — "It is therefore determined that these trusts are self-settled." *In re Brooks, 217 B.R. 98 (Bankr. D. Conn. 1998).* [^brooks-spendthrift-unenforceable-ct-law]: **Sattin v. Brooks (In re Brooks)** — "Accordingly, the spendthrift provisions of these trusts are not enforceable under applicable Connecticut law." *In re Brooks, 217 B.R. 98 (Bankr. D. Conn. 1998).* [^huckaby-situs-law-creditor-reach]: **United States v. Huckaby, No. 2:23-cv-00587-DAD-JDP, ECF No. 47** — "As to that question, the court finds § 280 to be persuasive in stating that ‘[w]hether the interest of a beneficiary of a trust of an interest in land is assignable by him and can be reached by his creditors, is determined by the law that would be applied by the courts of the situs.’" *United States v. Huckaby, No. 2:23-cv-00587-DAD-JDP, ECF No. 47, at 5 (E.D. Cal. Mar. 3, 2026).* [^anselmi-situs-law-beneficial-interest-in-land]: **In re Anselmi** — "Where the res of the trust is real property, the law applied in determining whether the beneficial interest of a beneficiary is exempt from process is the law of the situs of the land." *In re Anselmi, 52 B.R. 479, 490 (Bankr. D. Wyo. 1985).* [^huckaby-federal-choice-of-law-restatement]: **United States v. Huckaby, No. 2:23-cv-00587-DAD-JDP, ECF No. 47** — "Where, as here, a federal court’s jurisdiction is based on federal question jurisdiction, ‘federal common law choice-of-law rules apply.’ Huynh v. Chase Manhattan Bank, 465 F.3d 992, 997 (9th Cir. 2006). Accordingly, the court ‘follows the approach outlined in the Restatement (Second) of Conflict of Laws.’" *United States v. Huckaby, No. 2:23-cv-00587-DAD-JDP, ECF No. 47, at 5 (E.D. Cal. Mar. 3, 2026).* [^huckaby-settlors-trustees-beneficiaries]: **United States v. Huckaby, No. 2:23-cv-00587-DAD-JDP, ECF No. 47** — "Defendants are the Trust’s settlors, trustees, and its sole beneficiaries during their lifetimes." *United States v. Huckaby, No. 2:23-cv-00587-DAD-JDP, ECF No. 47, at 2 (E.D. Cal. Mar. 3, 2026).* [^huckaby-nevada-designation-argument]: **United States v. Huckaby, No. 2:23-cv-00587-DAD-JDP, ECF No. 47** — "Defendants argue that the Trust is governed by Nevada law because it was designated as a Nevada Spendthrift Trust by its terms." *United States v. Huckaby, No. 2:23-cv-00587-DAD-JDP, ECF No. 47, at 5 (E.D. Cal. Mar. 3, 2026).* [^huckaby-california-land-california-law]: **United States v. Huckaby, No. 2:23-cv-00587-DAD-JDP, ECF No. 47** — "Accordingly, because the Property is located in California, the court will apply California law in determining whether it is subject to enforcement of a judgment lien by plaintiff." *United States v. Huckaby, No. 2:23-cv-00587-DAD-JDP, ECF No. 47, at 5-6 (E.D. Cal. Mar. 3, 2026).* [^huckaby-liens-enforceable]: **United States v. Huckaby, No. 2:23-cv-00587-DAD-JDP, ECF No. 47** — "Accordingly, applying California law regarding the effectiveness of a spendthrift trust in shielding real property from creditors, the court concludes that the judgment liens here are enforceable against the Property to the extent that defendant Huckaby has an interest in that property." *United States v. Huckaby, No. 2:23-cv-00587-DAD-JDP, ECF No. 47, at 6 (E.D. Cal. Mar. 3, 2026).* [^huckaby-judicial-sale-motion]: **United States v. Huckaby, No. 2:23-cv-00587-DAD-JDP, ECF No. 51** — "On April 20, 2026, plaintiff filed a motion for order of judicial sale." *United States v. Huckaby, No. 2:23-cv-00587-DAD-JDP, ECF No. 51, at 2 (E.D. Cal. May 26, 2026).* [^fpp-validity-situs-law]: **F.P.P. Enterprises v. United States** — "The validity of a trust of an interest in land is determined by the law that would be applied by the courts of the situs. Restatement, Conflict of Laws 2d. § 278. Those courts would usually apply their own local law in determining such questions." *F.P.P. Enterprises v. United States, 646 F. Supp. 713 (D. Neb. 1986).* [^hartsfield-administration-situs-law]: **Hartsfield v. Lescher** — "The administration of a trust of an interest in land is determined by the law that would be applied by the courts of the situs as long as the land remains subject to the trust." *Hartsfield v. Lescher, 721 F. Supp. 1052 (E.D. Ark. 1989).* [^stetson-realty-situs-dictum]: **Stetson v. Morgan Guaranty Trust Co.** — "While in general the validity of a trust of realty has been determined by the law of the situs of the land and the legality of the trust of personalty by the law of the settlor’s domicil, there are many opportunities for complications and variations." *Stetson v. Morgan Guaranty Trust Co., 22 Conn. Supp. 158, 160 (Super. Ct. 1960).* [^stetson-settlor-choice-tendency]: **Stetson v. Morgan Guaranty Trust Co.** — "There is a tendency to respect the expressed will of the settlor as to the controlling law." *Stetson v. Morgan Guaranty Trust Co., 22 Conn. Supp. 158, 160 (Super. Ct. 1960).* [^ct-499g-governing-law-public-policy]: **Conn. Gen. Stat. § 45a-499g** — "The meaning and effect of the terms of a trust are determined by: (1) The law of the jurisdiction designated in the terms of the trust, unless the designation of the jurisdiction's law is contrary to a strong public policy of the jurisdiction having the most significant relationship to the matter at issue; or (2) in the absence of a controlling designation in the terms of the trust, the law of the jurisdiction having the most significant relationship to the matter at issue." *Conn. Gen. Stat. § 45a-499g.* [^tyson-settlor-income-reachable-situs]: **Greenwich Trust Co. v. Tyson** — "If in such a trust the settlor is the sole person entitled to the income, that income can be reached by his creditors." *Greenwich Trust Co. v. Tyson, 129 Conn. 211 (1942).* [^tyson-discretionary-income-situs]: **Greenwich Trust Co. v. Tyson** — "The public policy which subjects to the demands of a settlor’s creditors the income of a trust which the trustee in his discretion may pay to the settlor applies no less to a case where the trustee might in his discretion pay or use the income for others." *Greenwich Trust Co. v. Tyson, 129 Conn. 211 (1942).* [^netter-noncompliant-trust-void-situs]: **Netter v. Netter** — "Thus, if a self-settled spendthrift trust agreement does not satisfy the Connecticut act’s requirements, or if a court finds that sustaining a self-settled spendthrift trust would substantially prejudice the rights of the parties, the law as it existed in Connecticut prior to the legislation is applicable; see General Statutes § 45a-487t (a) (3); and the trust will be void as a matter of public policy." *Netter v. Netter, 235 Conn. App. 774 (2025).* [^brooks-discretionary-principal-rule-land]: **Sattin v. Brooks (In re Brooks)** — "Where by the terms of the trust a trustee is to pay the settlor or apply for his benefit as much of the income or principal as the trustee may in his discretion determine, his transferee or creditors can reach the maximum amount which the trustee could pay to him or apply for his benefit." *In re Brooks, 217 B.R. 98 (Bankr. D. Conn. 1998).* [^brooks-rule-applied-income-and-principal-land]: **Sattin v. Brooks (In re Brooks)** — "The Cantor court essentially described the trust provisions here, i.e., the trustees are to pay to the debtor-settlor all of the income and as much of the principal as is deemed advisable in their discretion. Accordingly, the spendthrift provisions of these trusts are not enforceable under applicable Connecticut law." *In re Brooks, 217 B.R. 98 (Bankr. D. Conn. 1998).* [^ct-47-14c-conveyance-severs-joint-tenancy]: **Conn. Gen. Stat. § 47-14c** — "Except as otherwise provided in sections 47-14a to 47-14k, inclusive, a conveyance of any interest or interests in any joint tenancy by less than all of the joint tenants to a person or persons other than one of the remaining joint tenants severs the joint tenancy as to the interest or interests so conveyed and the grantee or grantees thereof shall hold the interest or interests as tenant or tenants in common with the remaining joint tenant or tenants." *Conn. Gen. Stat. § 47-14c.* [^ct-47-14a-entirety-deed-creates-joint-tenancy]: **Conn. Gen. Stat. § 47-14a** — "A conveyance of real estate or any interest therein by deed or will or other instrument of conveyance to two or more natural persons, among whom may be the grantor or grantors, in such form that the conveyance runs unto the grantees or devisees, whether as joint tenants or as tenants in common, and unto the survivor of them, or unto the survivor and survivors of them, and unto the last survivor's heirs and assigns, or in such form that the conveyance runs unto the grantees or devisees for their lives, or their joint lives, with a remainder or other interest limited to the survivor of them and to the last survivor's heirs and assigns, or in such form that the conveyance runs unto the grantees or devisees as joint tenants with right of survivorship, or in such form that the conveyance runs unto two grantees or devisees and to their heirs and assigns as tenants by the entirety, or in such form that the conveyance runs unto the grantees or devisees with the words ‘as joint tenants’ added after their names, creates a joint tenancy in fee simple with right of survivorship added and the tenants holding under any such conveyance shall be known as joint tenants." *Conn. Gen. Stat. § 47-14a.* [^new-haven-trolley-no-tenancy-by-entirety]: **New Haven Trolley & Bus Employees Credit Union v. Hill** — "At common law, a conveyance to husband and wife, without more, created a tenancy by the entirety, but we early refused to recognize such an estate." *New Haven Trolley & Bus Employees Credit Union v. Hill, 145 Conn. 332 (1958).* [^ct-47-14f-joint-tenant-interest-attachable]: **Conn. Gen. Stat. § 47-14f** — "During the life of any joint tenant his interest may be attached, made subject to a mechanic's lien, judgment lien or other lien authorized by law, or sold on execution, all in the same manner as if he held his interest as a tenant in common; provided, upon the death of any joint tenant owning that interest, the attachment or lien or execution, unless and until it becomes invalid or unenforceable for some reason other than that death, shall likewise continue valid and enforceable against that interest as and when it accrues to the surviving tenants or tenant by reason of that death, but it shall not otherwise affect the rights or interests of any of the joint tenants, nor prevent any severance from being effected by any appropriate act pertaining to the interest of any of the joint tenants." *Conn. Gen. Stat. § 47-14f.* [^ct-47-5-deed-two-witnesses]: **Conn. Gen. Stat. § 47-5(a)** — "All conveyances of land shall be: (1) In writing; (2) if the grantor is (A) a natural person, subscribed, with or without a seal, by the grantor with his own hand or with his mark with his name annexed to it or by his agent authorized for that purpose by a power (i) executed, acknowledged and witnessed in the manner provided for conveyances, or (ii) executed, acknowledged and witnessed in the same manner provided for in section 1-350d, and subsection (a) of section 1-350r; or (B) a corporation, limited liability company or partnership, subscribed by a duly authorized person; (3) acknowledged by the grantor, his agent or such duly authorized person (A) to be his free act and deed, or (B) in any manner permitted under chapter 6 or chapter 8; and (4) attested to by two witnesses with their own hands." *Conn. Gen. Stat. § 47-5(a).* [^ct-47-5-grantee-mailing-address]: **Conn. Gen. Stat. § 47-5(b)** — "A document conveying land shall also include the current mailing address of the grantee." *Conn. Gen. Stat. § 47-5(b).* [^ct-34-259b-charging-order-exclusive]: **Conn. Gen. Stat. § 34-259b(e)** — "The entry of a charging order is the exclusive remedy by which a person seeking to enforce a judgment against a member or transferee may, in the capacity of judgment creditor, satisfy the judgment from the judgment debtor's transferable interest. With respect to the judgment debtor's transferable interest, attachment, garnishment, foreclosure or other legal or equitable remedies are not available to the judgment creditor, whether the limited liability company has one member or more than one member." *Conn. Gen. Stat. § 34-259b(e).* [^ct-34-259b-charging-order-distributions-only]: **Conn. Gen. Stat. § 34-259b(a)** — "On application by a judgment creditor of a member or transferee, a court may enter a charging order against the transferable interest of the judgment debtor for the unsatisfied amount of the judgment. Subject to subsection (e) of this section, a charging order constitutes a lien on a judgment debtor's transferable interest and requires the limited liability company to pay over to the person to which the charging order was issued any distribution that otherwise would be paid to the judgment debtor. To the extent that the transferable interest of the judgment debtor is so charged, the judgment creditor has only the right to receive any distribution or distributions to which the judgment debtor would otherwise have been entitled in respect of such transferable interest." *Conn. Gen. Stat. § 34-259b(a).* [^ct-34-255-becoming-a-member]: **Conn. Gen. Stat. § 34-255(a)-(c)** — "(a) If a limited liability company is to have only one member upon formation, the person becomes a member as agreed by that person and the organizer of the company. That person and the organizer may be, but need not be, different persons. If different, the organizer acts on behalf of the initial member. (b) If a limited liability company is to have more than one member upon formation, those persons become members as agreed by the persons before the formation of the company. The organizer acts on behalf of the persons in forming the company and may be, but need not be, one of the persons. (c) After formation of a limited liability company, a person becomes a member: (1) As provided in the operating agreement; (2) as the result of a transaction effective under the Connecticut Entity Transactions Act; (3) with the affirmative vote or consent of all of the members; or (4) as provided in subdivision (3) of subsection (a) of section 34-267." *Conn. Gen. Stat. § 34-255(a)-(c).* [^ct-34-243c-ct-llc-governing-law]: **Conn. Gen. Stat. § 34-243c** — "The law of this state governs: (1) The internal affairs of a limited liability company; and (2) the liability of a member as member and a manager as manager for the debts, obligations or other liabilities of a limited liability company." *Conn. Gen. Stat. § 34-243c.* [^ct-34-275-foreign-llc-governing-law]: **Conn. Gen. Stat. § 34-275(a)** — "The law of the governing jurisdiction of a foreign limited liability company governs: (1) The internal affairs of the company; (2) the liability of a member as member and a manager as manager for a debt, obligation or other liability of the company; and (3) the liability of a series of the company." *Conn. Gen. Stat. § 34-275(a).* [^brooks-stock-in-offshore-trusts-llc]: **Sattin v. Brooks (In re Brooks)** — "The undisputed fact is that the debtor and his wife undertook a plan whereby he would transfer the certificates to her, and then she would transfer that property to Bermuda and Jersey spendthrift trusts for his benefit." *In re Brooks, 217 B.R. 98 (Bankr. D. Conn. 1998).* [^brooks-spendthrift-unenforceable-llc]: **Sattin v. Brooks (In re Brooks)** — "Accordingly, the spendthrift provisions of these trusts are not enforceable under applicable Connecticut law." *In re Brooks, 217 B.R. 98 (Bankr. D. Conn. 1998).* [^ct-12-494-conveyance-tax-consideration]: **Conn. Gen. Stat. § 12-494(a)** — "There is imposed a tax on each deed, instrument or writing, whereby any lands, tenements or other realty is granted, assigned, transferred or otherwise conveyed to, or vested in, the purchaser, or any other person by such purchaser's direction, when the consideration for the interest or property conveyed equals or exceeds two thousand dollars: (1) Subject to the provisions of subsection (b) of this section, at the rate of three-quarters of one per cent of the consideration for the interest in real property conveyed by such deed, instrument or writing, the revenue from which shall be remitted by the town clerk of the municipality in which such tax is paid, not later than ten days following receipt thereof, to the Commissioner of Revenue Services for deposit to the credit of the state General Fund; and (2) At the rate of one-fourth of one per cent of the consideration for the interest in real property conveyed by such deed, instrument or writing, provided the amount imposed under this subdivision shall become part of the general revenue of the municipality in accordance with section 12-499." *Conn. Gen. Stat. § 12-494(a).* [^ct-12-494c-additional-municipal-tax]: **Conn. Gen. Stat. § 12-494(c)** — "In addition to the tax imposed under subsection (a) of this section, any targeted investment community, as defined in section 32-222, or any municipality in which properties designated as manufacturing plants under section 32-75c are located, may, on or after March 15, 2003, impose an additional tax on each deed, instrument or writing, whereby any lands, tenements or other realty is granted, assigned, transferred or otherwise conveyed to, or vested in, the purchaser, or any other person by such purchaser's direction, when the consideration for the interest or property conveyed equals or exceeds two thousand dollars, which additional tax shall be at a rate of up to one-fourth of one per cent of the consideration for the interest in real property conveyed by such deed, instrument or writing." *Conn. Gen. Stat. § 12-494(c).* [^ct-12-498-conveyance-tax-exemptions]: **Conn. Gen. Stat. § 12-498(a)** — "(a) The tax imposed by section 12-494 shall not apply to: (1) Deeds that this state is prohibited from taxing under the Constitution or laws of the United States; (2) Deeds that secure a debt or other obligation; (3) Deeds to which this state or any of its political subdivisions or its or their respective agencies is a party; (4) Tax deeds; (5) Deeds of release of property that is security for a debt or other obligation; (6) Deeds of partition; (7) Deeds made pursuant to mergers of corporations; (8) Deeds made by a subsidiary corporation to its parent corporation for no consideration other than the cancellation or surrender of the subsidiary's stock; (9) Deeds made pursuant to a decree of the Superior Court under section 46b-81, 49-24 or 52-495 or pursuant to a judgment of foreclosure by market sale under section 49-24 or pursuant to a judgment of loss mitigation under section 49-30t or 49-30u; (10) Deeds, when the consideration for the interest or property conveyed is less than two thousand dollars; (11) Deeds between affiliated corporations, provided both of such corporations are exempt from taxation pursuant to paragraph (2), (3) or (25) of Section 501(c) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, or any subsequent corresponding internal revenue code of the United States, as amended from time to time; (12) Deeds made by a corporation that is exempt from taxation pursuant to paragraph (3) of Section 501(c) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, or any subsequent corresponding internal revenue code of the United States, as amended from time to time, to any corporation which is exempt from taxation pursuant to said paragraph (3) of said Section 501(c); (13) Deeds made to any nonprofit organization that is organized for the purpose of holding undeveloped land in trust for conservation or recreation purposes; (14) Deeds between spouses; (15) Deeds of property for the Adriaen's Landing site or the stadium facility site, for purposes of the overall project, each as defined in section 32-651; (16) Land transfers made on or after July 1, 1998, to a water company, as defined in section 16-1, provided the land is classified as class I or class II land, as defined in section 25-37c, after such transfer; (17) Transfers or conveyances to effectuate a mere change of identity or form of ownership or organization, where there is no change in beneficial ownership;" *Conn. Gen. Stat. § 12-498(a)(10), (14), (17).* [^ct-12-638b-controlling-interest-tax-rate]: **Conn. Gen. Stat. § 12-638b(a)(1)** — "There is hereby imposed a tax on the sale or transfer of a controlling interest in any entity which possesses, directly or indirectly, an interest in real property in this state when the present true and actual value of the interest in real property equals or exceeds two thousand dollars, payable by the person selling or transferring such controlling interest, at the rate of one and eleven one-hundredths of one per cent of the present true and actual value of the interest in real property possessed, directly or indirectly, by such entity." *Conn. Gen. Stat. § 12-638b(a)(1).* [^ct-12-638a-controlling-interest-includes-trust]: **Conn. Gen. Stat. § 12-638a** — "As used in this chapter, (1) ‘commissioner’ means the Commissioner of Revenue Services, and (2) ‘controlling interest’ means (A) in the case of a corporation, more than fifty per cent of the total combined voting power of all classes of stock of such corporation, and (B) in the case of a partnership, association, trust or other entity, more than fifty per cent of the capital, profits or beneficial interest in such partnership, association, trust or other entity." *Conn. Gen. Stat. § 12-638a(2).* [^ct-drs-controlling-interest-for-consideration]: **Connecticut Department of Revenue Services, Controlling Interest Transfer Tax Information** — "The controlling interest transfer tax is a tax imposed on the sale or transfer for consideration of a controlling interest in an entity, whether it is a corporation, partnership, association, trust, limited liability company, or other organization, where the entity owns, directly or indirectly, an interest in Connecticut real property which has a present and true value not less than $2,000." *Conn. Dep't of Revenue Servs., Controlling Interest Transfer Tax: Tax Information (page last reviewed Dec. 15, 2025).* [^ct-12-638b-mere-change-of-form-exemption]: **Conn. Gen. Stat. § 12-638b(b)** — "(b) The tax imposed by subsection (a) of this section (1) shall not apply to any sale or transfer of a controlling interest in any entity to the extent such entity possesses, directly or indirectly, an interest in real property located in an area of any municipality designated as an enterprise zone in accordance with section 32-70, but shall apply to the extent such entity possesses, directly or indirectly, an interest in real property in this state located outside such area designated as such an enterprise zone, and (2) shall not apply to any sale or transfer of a controlling interest in any entity to effectuate a mere change of identity or form of ownership or organization where there is no change in beneficial ownership." *Conn. Gen. Stat. § 12-638b(b)(2).* [^ct-487k-transferor-direct-or-indirect]: **Conn. Gen. Stat. § 45a-487k(8)** — "(8) ‘Transferor’ means an individual who, or entity which, as an owner of property or as a holder of a general power of appointment, which authorizes the holder to appoint in favor of the holder, the holder's creditors, the holder's estate or the creditors of the holder's estate, or as a trustee, directly or indirectly, makes a disposition or causes a disposition to be made." *Conn. Gen. Stat. § 45a-487k(8).* [^ct-487p-limitation-periods-each-disposition]: **Conn. Gen. Stat. § 45a-487p(b)** — "(b) Notwithstanding the provisions of section 52-552j, a creditor may not bring an action under subsection (a) of this section if: (1) The creditor's claim against the transferor arose before the qualified disposition was made, unless the action is brought within four years after the qualified disposition is made or, if later, within one year after the qualified disposition was or could reasonably have been discovered by the creditor; or (2) The creditor's claim against the transferor arose subsequent to the qualified disposition, unless the action is brought within four years after the qualified disposition is made." *Conn. Gen. Stat. § 45a-487p(b).* [^ct-487p-multiple-dispositions-same-instrument]: **Conn. Gen. Stat. § 45a-487p(f)** — "(f) If more than one qualified disposition is made by means of the same trust instrument: (1) The making of a subsequent qualified disposition shall be disregarded in determining whether a creditor's claim with respect to a prior qualified disposition is extinguished as provided in subsection (b) of this section; and (2) Any distribution to a beneficiary shall be deemed to have been made from the latest such qualified disposition." *Conn. Gen. Stat. § 45a-487p(f).* [^brooks-wife-funded-trusts-plan-spouses]: **Sattin v. Brooks (In re Brooks)** — "The undisputed fact is that the debtor and his wife undertook a plan whereby he would transfer the certificates to her, and then she would transfer that property to Bermuda and Jersey spendthrift trusts for his benefit. The debtor performed his part of the scheme, and so did she." *In re Brooks, 217 B.R. 98 (Bankr. D. Conn. 1998).* [^brooks-purchase-price-settlor-rule]: **Sattin v. Brooks (In re Brooks)** — "It is sufficient that he paid the purchase price for a conveyance upon a trust, of which he is the beneficiary or one of the beneficiaries.’ I Restatement (Second) of Trusts § 156, Comment f (1959)." *In re Brooks, 217 B.R. 98 (Bankr. D. Conn. 1998).* [^netter-spendthrift-trust-definition]: **Netter v. Netter** — "A trust which creates a fund for the benefit of another, secures it against the beneficiary’s own improvidence, and places it beyond the reach of his creditors is a spendthrift trust." *Netter v. Netter, 235 Conn. App. 774 (2025).* [^ct-52-321-mandatory-income-reachable]: **Conn. Gen. Stat. § 52-321(a)** — "If property has been given to trustees to pay over the income to any person, without provision for accumulation or express authorization to the trustees to withhold the income, and the income has not been expressly given for the support of the beneficiary or his family, the income shall be liable in equity to the claims of all creditors of the beneficiary." *Conn. Gen. Stat. § 52-321(a).* For repeat use, install the skill: `npx skills add open-agreements/open-agreements` (lawyer-reviewed agreement templates + 50-state practice guides).