【文章內(nèi)容簡(jiǎn)介】 me of minor) under the [Name of Enacting State] Uniform Transfers to Minors Act” on the application. By allowing a minor to be named as the owner of a life insurance policy or ownership of such a policy to be transferred to a minor, the UTMA recognizes the longstanding notion that life insurance contracts have “the ordinary characteristics of property.” Therefore, once a person names a minor as an owner or ransfers ownership of a life insurance contract to a minor under the UTMA, the minor is indefeasibly vested with ownership of the insurance specified custodian, however, assumes the role of a quasi trustee in that the custodian has the rights, powers, and duties necessary to possess and manage the policy until the minor reaches the required age. Nevertheless,a custodian does not have legal title to or ownership of the insurance policy since it is vested with the minor. A custodian may therefore be properly described as having a possessory interest to the insurance policy on behalf of a minor, rather than a true ownership interest or claim. Transfer to the Minor In exercising a possessory interest on behalf of a minor, a custodian must exercise the standard of care of a reasonably prudent person in dealing with the If a custodian has a special skill or expertise, the custodian is required to use that skill or expertise. A custodian may invest or pay premiums on insurance policies if the minor is the sole beneficiary. Once the minor has attained the required age, however, the UTMA indicates that “he custodian shall transfer in an appropriate manner the custodial property to the minor or to the minor’s estate.” The use of the words “shall transfer” indicates that a custodian of an insurance policy transferred under the UTMA has an af rmative duty to transfer custody and control of the policy to the minor when the minor attains the specified age. By placing an affirmative duty on a custodian to transfer the policy to the minor, the statute implies that, although the minor has already been indefeasibly 9 vested with legal title to the policy, there is not an automatic transfer of possession from the custodian to the minor. That is, the custodian must deliver possession of the policy to the minor in an “appropriate manner.” In the case of an insurance policy, the“appropriate manner” of transferring the policy is for the custodian to sign a transfer of ownership form, thereby relinquishing custodial control over the policy. This action of pleting a transfer of ownership form indicates to the insurance provider that the custodian’s capacity to exercise any rights, powers, duties, or authority has terminated. Requiring the custodian to affirmatively transfer personal property (and in the case of life insurance to sign a transfer of ownership form) is evidenced by the UTMA as adopted in various states. For example, the UTMA as adopted in Illinois indicates that: (a) The custodian shall transfer in an appropriate manner the custodial property… to the minor or to the minor’s estate upon the earlier of: (1) the minor’s attainment of 21 years of age with respect to custodial property . . . (2) the minor’s attainment of majority under the laws of this State other than this Act with respect to custodial property . . ., or (3) the minor’s death. (b) To the extent the custodial property is real property or an interest in real property, no conveyance or delivery to the minor or to the minor’s estate is necessary to terminate the powers or rights of the custodian upon the minor’s attainment of age 21 or 18 years, as the case may be, or upon the minor’s death. The Illinois UTMA, therefore, expressly makes a distinction between real property and personal property. For real property, there is an automatic transfer to the minor ( ., the custodian is not required to effect a transfer of the property to the minor). But for personal property (including insurance policies), there is no automatic transfer of property to the minor. 10 Case Reinforcement In addition to statutory wording, case law in situations involving personal property analogous to a life insurance policy indicates that there is no automatic transfer of personal property from a custodian to a minor upon the minor’s attainment of the statutory age. For instance, in Reagan v. Connelly , a father created a corporation and gave 96 shares of stock i