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
Recently, Michigan added a new section to the trust code, making it possible for trust settlors to create “quiet” or “silent” trusts in Michigan. As the name implies, in a silent trust arrangement, a trustee is not required...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
Section 17.3, comment f, of the Restatement (Third) of Property (Wills and Other Donative Transfers) explains the difference between a collateral power of appointment and a power of appointment in gross: “In traditional...more
Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee approved Public Chapter No. 695 on April 11, 2024, as passed by the Tennessee General Assembly (Trust Bill). The new law became effective on July 1, 2024, and it made several important changes to...more
Creating a domestic asset protection trust (DAPT) that both has multijurisdictional contacts and is nonvoidable in whole or in part is easier said than done. There are the state conflict-of-laws issues, a few of which I...more
David F. Johnson presented to the Tarrant County Probate Bar Association on May 4, 2023, on the topic of “Trust Issues in Divorce Proceedings.” This program discussed some of the many trust issues that arise in divorce...more
Trust v. Code: What Trumps? Matter of the Leo Kahn Revocable Trust, 102 Mass. App. Ct. 38 (2022) - If the terms of a trust instrument are inconsistent with a provision of the Massachusetts Uniform Trust Code (“MUTC” or...more
The Massachusetts Uniform Trust Code (MUTC) is still new enough that any higher court decision interpreting it feels like a special day for fiduciary litigators. Well, ’tis the season!...more
Trust beneficiaries often request a corporate trustee to prepare a statutory accounting. The Texas Trust Code in Section 113.151 provides that a beneficiary may request a written statement of accounts....more
The saga of the Smith and Alexander families continues with a discussion of powers of appointment and the implications of Johnny’s exercise of the limited power of appointment granted to him under his parents’ Family Trust....more
September Interest Rates for GRATs, Sales to Defective Grantor Trusts, Intrafamily Loans and Split Interest Charitable Trusts - The September Section 7520 rate for use with estate planning techniques such as CRTs, CLTs,...more
Professional trustees and financial institutions acting as trustees often include a “termination fee” as part of their published fee schedules. Contrary to the name’s suggestion, a trustee might charge the fee not only at...more
Estate, Gift and GST Tax Update - What This Means for Your Current Will, Revocable Trust and Estate Plan - The estate and gift tax regimes have been permanent and unified since the passage of The American Taxpayer...more
September 2019 Interest Rates for GRATs, Sales to Defective Grantor Trusts, Intra-Family Loans and Split-Interest Charitable Trusts - The September Section 7520 rate for use with estate planning techniques such as CRTs,...more
Revocable trusts are a ubiquitous part of modern US estate planning because they avoid the delay, cost and publicity inherent in probate administration and, in the international context, because of the certainty they provide...more
As we have just passed the one-year anniversary of the CUTC being signed into law, now seems like an appropriate time to go over a few reminders with regards to its mandatory provisions – in particular the Notice provisions. ...more
Powers of attorney and trust instruments have each been the subject of many an estate plan. They each have also been the subject of multiple estate litigations. In combination, the two have served as fodder for controversies...more
On July 17, 2016, New Jersey’s version of the Uniform Trust Code became effective. The objective of the Uniform Trust Code, which has now been enacted in approximately 30 states, is to provide more certainty for...more
As an estate planning attorney, it is hard to contain my excitement that a version of the Uniform Trust Code (“NJUTC”) was enacted in New Jersey on January 19, 2016 with an effective date of July 17, 2016. With its passage,...more
Fiduciaries should always be thinking of ways to get the statute of limitations started. Why have a claim hanging over your head for many years, when you can take actions that shorten the time in which a claim may be brought...more
On August 11th, Governor McCrory signed North Carolina Senate Bill 336, Act to Amend the Law Governing Estate Planning and Fiduciaries (the “Act”). Notably, the Act adopts a procedure for living probate in North Carolina and...more
In the pre-Uniform Trust Code UTC), unless the terms of a revocable inter vivos trust provided otherwise, the trust could not have been revoked by the settlor’s will. A will speaks at the time of the testator’s death, an...more