Question: Is there an affirmative duty owed by a successor trustee to correct mistakes made by the predecessor trustee in the administration of the trust estate? In the question posed, the predecessor trustee incorrectly calculated the unitrust amount (4%) that was distributed to the lifetime trust beneficiary. Answer: There is no express affirmative duty to […]

Take-Away: As we enter into the annual charitable giving season, the questions arise if a pledge to a charity is enforceable or if outstanding at the time of the pledgor’s death, if it is a deductible debt. Michigan’s law on the enforcement of charitable pledges is weak and without much guidance. The federal government has […]

Take-Away: A Bill is working its way through Lansing that would not make it a crime to cohabit with another person. (Now there is a surprise for some of you!) While Michigan does not acknowledge common-law marriages as it once did, some Michigan residents who cohabit might nonetheless have their relationship classified as a valid […]

Take-away: As we move toward the end of this calendar year and the obligation to take required minimum distributions, it is also time to keep in mind  the opportunity and some of the strange eligibility rules that are associated with qualified charitable distributions, or QCD’s. Background: A qualified charitable distribution (QCD) is fast becoming the […]

Take-Away: The IRS is going to publish today in the Federal Register its new life expectancy tables. Those tables will be an update from the 2002 tables that we have relied upon for well over a decade to value life estates and remainder interests in the transfer of assets. No surprise, the new tables will […]

Take-Away:  The IRS published its Final Regulations that deal with the taxation and reporting of a death benefit primarily with regard to policies that were the subject of a ‘life settlement’ transaction. These Regulations could cause a substantial part of the death benefit paid under a life insurance policy to be subject to ordinary income […]

Take-Away: A court recently refused the beneficiaries’ petition to remove the acting trustee. The court’s denial was because the trustee’s removal would be inconsistent with what the court perceived to be the trust’s material purposes. Once again, a court is guided by, or limited in the modification of, an irrevocable trust by the material purpose […]

Take-Away: The IRS just published proposed Regulations to update the Life Expectancy and Distribution Tables that are used to calculate an individual’s required minimum distribution (RMD) from his or her retirement plan account. Assuming these proposed Regulations are adopted, they will apply to calculate RMDs beginning on January 1, 2021, (coincidently) the same time the […]

Take-Away: An in terrorem or no-contest clause is enforceable in Michigan, unless the challenger to the Will or trust has probable cause to initiate the challenge. Much less clear is the enforceability of a no-contest clause’s expansive scope that seeks to prevent any challenges by a beneficiary to the actions or decisions made by the […]

Take-Away: We have yet another example of the IRS’s apparent move towards leniency in addressing IRA distribution ‘mistakes’ in a recent private letter ruling (PLR), where the IRS accepted a court order that changed the decedent’s IRA beneficiary from his children to his surviving spouse. Private Letter Ruling: No. 201934006, Dated May 30, 2019, released […]