Beneficiary

Where the statute uses it: Minn. Stat. § 501C.0103(c)

What it means

The category is wider than the people currently receiving money. A remainder beneficiary who gets nothing until a life tenant dies is a beneficiary today. So is a grandchild whose interest depends on a condition that may never occur — the statute says vested or contingent, and contingent is in.

The second clause catches a different animal. A person who holds a power of appointment over trust property is a beneficiary even with no beneficial interest at all, unless the person holds that power as trustee.

"Beneficiary" means a person that:

(1) has a present or future beneficial interest in a trust, vested or contingent; or

(2) in a capacity other than that of trustee, holds a power of appointment over trust property.

“Person” is itself defined, at § 501C.0103(j), and reaches corporations, estates, partnerships, limited liability companies, governments, and other legal or commercial entities. A charity named to take a remainder is a beneficiary.

Where the word shows up

In the distribution provisions of the trust instrument. In § 501C.0502, where a spendthrift provision restricts transfer of a beneficiary’s interest. In the second sentence of § 501C.0813(a), which requires a trustee to respond promptly, unless unreasonable under the circumstances, to a request for information related to the administration of an irrevocable trust — a duty running to “a beneficiary,” without the word “qualified” in front of it.

Being a beneficiary is not the same as being entitled to a distribution now, and it is not the same as being a qualified beneficiary. Those are three different questions, and a document that answers one of them has not answered the other two.