(a) To the extent that a trustee accounts for receipts from the sale of timber and related products pursuant to this section, the trustee shall allocate the net receipts as follows:
(1) To income to the extent that the amount of timber removed from the land does not exceed the rate of growth of the timber during the accounting periods in which a beneficiary has a mandatory income interest.
(2) To principal to the extent that the amount of timber removed from the land exceeds the rate of growth of the timber or the net receipts are from the sale of standing timber.
(3) To or between income and principal if the net receipts are from the lease of timberland or from a contract to cut timber from land owned by a trust, by determining the amount of timber removed from the land under the lease or contract and applying the rules in paragraphs (1) and (2).
(4) To principal to the extent that advance payments, bonuses, and other payments are not allocated pursuant to paragraph (1), (2), or (3).
(b) In determining net receipts to be allocated under subdivision (a), a trustee shall deduct and transfer to principal a reasonable amount for depletion.
(c) This chapter applies whether or not a decedent or transferor was harvesting timber from the property before it became subject to the trust.
(d) If a trust owned an interest in timberland on January 1, 2000, the trustee may at all times allocate net receipts from the sale of timber and related products as provided in this chapter or in the manner reasonably used by the trustee prior to that date. Net receipts from an interest in timberland acquired after January 1, 2000, shall be allocated by the trustee as provided in this chapter. If the interest was owned by the trust on January 1, 2000, a trustee that allocated net receipts from the interest between January 1, 2000, and December 31, 2006, as provided in this chapter shall not have a duty to review that allocation and shall not have liability arising from the allocation. Nothing in this section is intended to create or imply a duty to allocate in a manner used by the trustee prior to January 1, 2000, and a trustee is not liable for not considering whether to make such an allocation or for choosing not to make such an allocation.
(Amended by Stats. 2006, Ch. 569, Sec. 5. Effective January 1, 2007.)
Last modified: October 25, 2018