However, there has been a modern trend toward reform of the Rule. The reform Rule states that a beneficiary’s interest will not be found to be in violation of the Rule if it must vest within 21 years of some life in being at the creation of the trust or actually does vest within 90 years after its creation. This is a statutory "wait and see" rule. In determining whether a beneficiary’s interest must vest within 21 years after a life in being, the possibility that a child will be born to an individual after the individual’s death is disregarded.
Some states have also statutorily alleviated the more damaging consequences of the Rule by
allowing their courts to modify the trust mode of distribution so as to bring the beneficiaries’
interests within the Rule. In some states, the court with jurisdiction of the trust may exercise its equitable power to reform the disposition in a manner which conforms with the settlor’s manifested plan of distribution and is also within the limits of the prior existing Rule of Perpetuities. In other states, the court can exercise its equitable power to modify the trust disposition in a manner which both conforms with the settlor’s plan of distribution.
