Spendthrift protections, as applied to trust interests, state that:

• A. They apply to both income and principal unless expressly excluded
• B. Spendthrift protections apply only to income interests unless the settlor excludes
• C. Spendthrift protections apply only to principal interests
• D. Spendthrift protections apply to neither income nor principal

Answer: (B)

Spendthrift protections shield the beneficiary’s right to receive income from the trust from creditors, preventing the right to income from being assigned or quickly seized. The trust corpus (principal) isn’t automatically protected; the trustee retains control over principal, and creditors may reach it unless the settlor explicitly extends the spendthrift shield to the corpus. This means the default effect is protection for income interests, not for principal, unless the settlor provides language to include principal within the spendthrift protection. So the correct view is that spendthrift protections apply to income interests unless the settlor extends the protection to principal.