While it is easy to create a Trust that complies with the Michigan Trust Code, there is no assurance that the Trust will be respected for federal tax purposes.

The terms of an irrevocable Trust can be modified by a probate court to reflect the settlor’s probable intent regarding tax objectives. However, there is also the limitation of the need for the state’s highest court to rule on that modification.

IRA custodian need to be attentive and knowledgeable when helping to open IRA accounts and when determining when required minimum distributions are mandated.

Could it be that settlors are better off not proofreading their Trust instruments before they are signed, if they later want to change their mind?

A spendthrift clause protects a beneficiary’s interest in a trust. Such a clause can also frustrate future efforts to modify the trust’s terms or the trust beneficiary’s effort to plan their own estate.

President Biden’s 2025 Budget Proposal (the Greenbook) looks pretty much like his 2024 Budget Proposal as a source of new revenues. Many of its proposals will sound familiar.

The SECURE Act 2.0 provides yet another exception to the early distribution excise tax, the Terminally Ill Distribution.

It may be possible to fix some ‘mistakes’ when a trust is subject to the generation skipping transfer tax.

While we regularly talk about the ‘right’ to obtain an income tax basis step-up on the death of the asset’s owner, it is important to remember that omitted assets, or assets that would have caused a federal estate tax liability but which were not timely reported on a federal estate tax return, may nonetheless carry an income tax basis of $0.00 due to the IRS’s basis consistency rules.

Starting this year a qualified elective deferral retirement plan may have ‘linked’ to it an emergency savings account that has a balance up to $2,500. Employer matching contributions can also be made to this savings account, but the IRS is concerned about employee-participants manipulating the savings account opportunity solely to obtain an employer’s matching contribution.