Intro. The Uniform Trust Code (UTC) is a mere aggregation of tweaks to the corner of equity jurisprudence that long ago gave birth to and currently stewards the trust relationship, hereinafter “the background trust law.”...more
When hostilities break out between individual co-trustees, incumbent trust counsel faces a representation conundrum. In §8.8 of Loring and Rounds: A Trustee’s Handbook (2025), see appendix below, we grapple with the...more
While PC software programs are a practical improvement over the trustee’s hard-copy ledger book, when it comes to keeping track of trust income and principal these programs still require serious clerical monitoring on the...more
Assume the deceased settlor of a trust had intended that his niece be included in the beneficiary class, but his estate-planning attorney had negligently made no provision for her in the governing instrument. After settlor’s...more
Representing a client in a trust case? A signed mediation settlement agreement (MSA) needn’t mean that your work is done. The requirement of a signed final MSA, while indispensable, nevertheless can present serious challenges...more
In an external contract-based or tort-based dispute between the trustee and a third party to the trust relationship, the beneficiaries are generally not necessary parties. But all beneficiaries (of an irrev. trust) whose...more
Many of my JDSUPRA postings, a full catalog of which may be found below, are about the doctrinal incoherence that is being inflicted on the institution of the trust by legislative intrusions into equity doctrine, intrusions...more
An incident of the trustee’s duty to be generally prudent, to account (or report) to beneficiaries, and to refrain from breaches of the duty of undivided loyalty, such as engaging in unauthorized self-dealing, is the...more
Many of my prior JDSUPRA postings caution that codification of the law of trusts, such as the Uniform Trust Code (UTC), are only partial codifications. See the catalogue of my prior postings below. There is much prevailing...more
Equity’s maxims have many jurisprudential functions, one critical function being to sinew the equitable principles that regulate the law of trusts. A court that is saddled with sorting out the rights, duties and obligations...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
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
Section 415 of the Uniform Trust Code provides that even in the absence of ambiguity the court may reform the terms of a trust to conform the terms to the settlor’s intention if it is proved by clear and convincing evidence...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
The federal Corporate Transparency Act (CTA), effective January 1, 2024, whose constitutionality is currently being tested in the courts, follows in the footsteps of the IRC in that it creates a limited statutory exception...more
If the trustee in breach of trust conveys the trust property to a third party to the trust relationship, would the transferee be a necessary party to any action for breach of trust that the trust beneficiaries might bring?...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
Consider the following situation. Settlor owns a thousand acres of land in a domestic-asset- protection haven (DAPT state). While he is alive, he transfers in trust the land to a corporate trustee that does business...more
In a Sept. 11, 2023 JDSUPRA posting I questioned the doctrinal and practical utility of partial legislative codifications of equity’s principles-based jurisprudence, such as the UTC, the very institution of the trust being a...more
A longstanding and critical incident of a trustee’s fiduciary duty of loyalty is the duty to vigorously defend the trust’s very existence, as well as all its material provisions (hereinafter “existence defense”), unless it...more
When considering how to make a substantial gift to a charitable corporation, one should not rule out making it indirectly via assignment to an independent trustee. First, an independent trusteeship facilitates proper asset...more
The Tennessee legislature continues to take action to maintain Tennessee's status as one of the foremost states in which to situs trusts. The legislature's most recent enhancements to Tennessee's Uniform Trust Code (TN UTC)...more
David F. Johnson will address the complex issues surrounding a trustee’s duty to disclose and will compare Texas law and the Uniform Trust Code on this topic. He will address disclosure requirements under trust documents and...more