Take-Away: A popular estate planning device these days is  a grantor trust. The transferred assets are removed from the settlor’s taxable estate. The settlor is charged with paying the income taxes on the grantor trust’s income, thus reducing the settlor’s taxable estate, while the income tax payments made on behalf of the grantor trust are […]

Take-Away:  A nonjudicial settlement agreement under the Michigan Trust Code is a device that is generally  used to resolve administrative matters that are associated with a trust and, by default, conserve probate court resources. A nonjudicial settlement agreement is not, however,  normally used to resolve disagreements among parties, like competing trust beneficiaries over the division […]

Take-Away: The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) recently released proposed rules that require both investment advisers and broker-dealers to provide a Customer Relationship Summary  (the Summary) to explain the nature of the relationship, the services to be provided, standards of conduct, conflicts of interest and fees and costs associated with the provided services. This proposed […]

Take-Away#1: Wills and trust instruments regularly authorize the transfer of assets to the custodian for a minor beneficiary under the Michigan Uniform Transfers to Minors Act (UTMA). That Act permits a delay in the distribution of the custodial assets until the individual (no longer a minor) attains the age of no greater than age 21 […]

Take-Away: As the law evolves, albeit much slower than modern medicine and technology, we now have another unique purpose trust to possibly consider and discuss with clients. A revival trust  is one that continues for the ultimate use and benefit of the person who chooses to be cryonically preserved or who chooses to achieve what […]

Take-Away: Effective the first of this calendar year, the IRS  imposed new audit rules on partnerships and multimember LLCs. These new rules may leave a trustee vulnerable for claims for tax liabilities of others, or for a breach of trust with regard to an interest in a partnership or LLC owned by the trust. Background: […]

Take-Away: When the minor nears the age 21 years and is entitled to receive the balance of his/her Uniform Transfer to Minors Act (UTMA) account, the parents of the minor, or the UTMA custodian, can take a few steps to try to control the assets before the reach the minor’s hands, but none of these […]

Take-Away: An agent who acts under a durable power of attorney may be exposed to claims of self-dealing if the agent takes actions that benefit the agent or the agent’s family members. Less obvious is that the agent’s confidential relationship with their principal can expose the agent to claims of undue influence over his/her principal […]

Take-Away: While a federal gift tax return appears fairly simple in form to complete, the rules that must be followed to complete that Form 709 are far from simple. A complex rules follow which indicate the complexity associated with completing the ‘simple’ federal gift tax Form 709. Split-gifts:  Married taxpayers who are U.S. citizens or […]

Take-Away: The U.S. Supreme Court just upheld a state statute that retroactively revoked the life insurance beneficiary designation where the insured’s former spouse was the named primary beneficiary. The statute was challenged by a former spouse who claimed that the statute violated the Constitution’s Contracts Clause, which deprived her of her right to receive the […]