Take-Away: The Michigan Trust Code contains a couple of provisions that permit an irrevocable trust to be terminated. But just because the income beneficiary and remainder beneficiaries agree to commute the lifetime beneficiary’s interest under the trust will result in the termination of the trust.  A judge may have different thoughts on the termination when […]

Take-Away: If individuals reside with one another, but they have no intention of marrying, then planning opportunities should be considered. Most of the problems posed by Chapter 14 of the Tax Code valuation rules can pretty much be ignored when the individuals are not family members. Background: There is an increasing phenomena in our society […]

Take-Away: Many individuals should consider the adoption of charitable remainder trust. In part, because of the dramatic increases in the stock market last year, many are sitting on appreciated investment portfolios. Others may need to diversify their investment portfolio which will cause them to incur capital gains in that diversification process to reduce overweighting risks.  […]

Take-Away: We are promised rising interest rates for the balance of this year and probably into next year as well. In a period of rising interest rates some estate planning strategies, like GRATs and CLATs,  work better than other conventional estate planning strategies. Similarly, increasing interest rates will dictate the minimum rate of interest that […]

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: […]