What is an Irrevocable Trust?
Irrevocable trusts are a common instrument used to reduce estate taxes, shield assets from creditors or lawsuits, or bypass probate. The creator of a trust (the “Settlor”) transfers their ownership interest in an asset to the...more
Delaware’s Court of Chancery has again emphasized that decanting is a limited tool that must be grounded in actual authority under the governing instrument and statute. In a recent memorandum opinion arising out of a...more
This section surveys notable 2025 developments in trusts and estates across key jurisdictions, highlighting enacted legislation, pending proposals and consequential court decisions with practical planning implications. From...more
Many estate planning attorneys assist clients with creating irrevocable trusts to transfer wealth to beneficiaries before death, while also gaining the valuable benefit of reducing estate tax liability following the client's...more
Over time, trusts have become much more complicated. They may own a wide variety of assets, including residences, real estate, interests in family business, and interests in increasingly complex financial instruments....more
The 2025 Minnesota legislative session produced several changes to Minnesota’s estate and trust codes, with most of the new laws taking effect on August 1. Many of the changes create important new planning opportunities for...more
Sometimes, the terms of an irrevocable trust (one that cannot be amended or revoked) were appropriate at the time the trust was created, but subsequent events or circumstances make the terms of the old trust impractical,...more
You likely have created revocable or irrevocable trusts, or a few of both, in your estate plan. Ideally, these have been properly drafted with plenty of flexibility so that they can continue to meet your wealth planning goals...more
September 2024 AFRs and 7520 Rate - The September 2024 Section 7520 rate for use with estate planning techniques such as CRTs, CLTs, QPRTs and GRATs is 4.8%, a decrease from the August 2024 rate of 5.2%. The September...more
The September 2024 Section 7520 rate for use with estate planning techniques such as CRTs, CLTs, QPRTs and GRATs is 4.8%, a decrease from the August 2024 rate of 5.2%. The September applicable federal rate (“AFR”) for use...more
As its name implies, an irrevocable trust cannot be revoked by the person who establishes the trust. Typically, an irrevocable trust also cannot be changed by a trustee or beneficiary. The irrevocable nature makes the trust a...more
Drawn from Steve Gorin’s 3rd quarter 2023 newsletter, this course will review gifts from trusts and bargain sales, when real estate or an LLC interest constitutes inventory, and selected fiduciary income tax issues regarding...more
I recently encountered an interesting situation in which someone suggested that a grantor trust be decanted into a non-grantor trust before the end of the taxable year. The reason? To avoid the special interest charge that...more
Sometimes, the terms of an irrevocable trust (one that cannot be amended or revoked) were fine at the time the trust was created, but subsequent events or circumstances make the terms of the old trust impractical, unwanted,...more
In the Matter of: The Niki and Darren Irrevocable Trust and the N and D Delaware Irrevocable Trust, C.A. No. 2019-0302-SG (Del. Ch. Feb. 4, 2021) - Delaware’s decanting statute allows a trustee to “decant” a trust by...more
In a recent post, I remarked that as a corporate and securities lawyer I was unfamiliar with the term "decanting" in respect to trusts. Much to my surprise, I have since learned that last year California actually enacted a...more
I am no oenophile but I have heard of decanting a bottle of wine. I am also not a trust and estates lawyer but I have never heard of decanting a trust's assets - until yesterday when I read the Nevada Supreme Court's opinion...more
Irrevocable trusts have been part of estate planning for years. They have been used for a variety of purposes, such as to remove assets from a person's estate in order to reduce taxes, to protect assets from creditors, and to...more
Modifying Irrevocable Trusts 101 - As family and financial circumstances change with time, clients often desire to modify the terms of the trusts they have created. Even if a trust is irrevocable, in Pennsylvania there are...more
This week has brought a much-anticipated decision by the Supreme Judicial Court regarding trust decanting, and the past month also brought the latest chapters in two cases that we reported on previously....more
August Interest Rates for GRATs, Sales to Defective Grantor Trusts, Intra-Family Loans and Split Interest Charitable Trusts - The August § 7520 rate for use with estate planning techniques such as CRTs, CLTs, QPRTs and...more
Decanting refers to the distribution of trust property of one trust (the “first trust”) to another trust (the “second trust”). Over the past several years, the number of states specifically authorizing decanting by statute...more
Decanting has been Texas law for almost three months and several articles have discussed what can be accomplished by decanting (e.g., Bill Pargaman’s 2013 Legislative Update). This article will discuss the documents needed...more
The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court’s recent decision in Morse v. Kraft recognizes, in certain circumstances, a Trustee’s ability to decant trust assets by distributing them to a new trust in lieu of making an outright...more
Phoenix business law firm Jaburg Wilk's Estate Planning attorney Beth Cohn discusses irrevocable trusts. She talks about how people use them and the process involved with them. She explains what decanting is and the...more