What is an Irrevocable Trust?
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
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
Building flexibility into your estate plan using various strategies is generally advised. The reason is that life circumstances change over time, specifically changing tax laws and family circumstances. ...more
As you know from my prior posts, I appreciate the interplay between divorce and estate planning. I enjoy working on cases where both worlds collide, and have been fortunate to be involved in some very interesting cases, which...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
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
Inherent in a trustee’s discretionary authority to make a distribution of trust property outright and free of trust to a permissible beneficiary of the trust may well be the authority to distribute the property instead to...more
Irrevocable trusts are now subject to varying degrees of amendment by court approved modifications, trust protector actions, private settlement agreements, and, of course, decanting....more