Take-Away: The meaning and effect of the terms of the trust are determined primarily by the jurisdiction that is designated in the trust instrument. The exception to this general rule is if the selected jurisdiction’s law is contrary to the strong public policy of the jurisdiction that has the most significant relationship with the matter […]

Take-Away: The Final Regulations for IRC 199A were published on January 18, 2019. These Final Regulations carry forward most, but not all, of the same limitations to planning strategies that were provided in the Proposed Regulations of August, 2018. The Final Regulations will be of interest to clients who own specified services trades or businesses […]

Take-Away: One planning strategy that came to light after IRC 199A appeared in the Tax Code was to use multiple non-grantor trusts so that each trust owned a part of a business that generated qualified business income. As a result, each irrevocable trust (or its beneficiaries who received trust distributions) could claim its own IRC […]

Take-Away: The Final IRC 199A Regulations, and IRS Notice 2019-7 seem to create a safe harbor that permits owners of rental real estate to qualify for the IRC 199A income tax deduction. As a generalization, ‘triple-net’ leased real estate will be excluded from the IRC 199A income tax deduction. The rental real estate owner will […]

Take-Away: A beneficiary’s interest in an irrevocable trust should be protected in the trust beneficiary’s divorce, as most beneficial interests arise as a result of a gift or inheritance, which under Michigan law are presumed to be the beneficiary’s separate property. But divorce judges possess equitable powers to reach a fair division of assets, and […]

Take-Away: Most intellectual property assets can be transferred by a Will or a Trust. But some intellectual property rights have specific statutory durations, while others have an indefinite ‘self-life’ if properly used or registered. The key point is to make sure that these unique assets, with their intrinsic values, are clearly addressed in the Will […]

Take-Away: As we begin the annual chore of completing our income tax returns for 2018, many will be surprised with regard to the impact of the 2017 Tax Act on their federal income tax liability for 2018. While an individual’s standard deduction was essentially doubled, ($24,400 in 2019 for a married couple) their personal exemption […]

Take-Away: If a spouse dies without using his/her unified transfer tax exemption, that exemption can be ported and used by the surviving spouse to shelter either lifetime gifts by the survivor, or applied to shelter federal estate taxes on the surviving spouse’s death. But if the deceased spouse’s ported  transfer tax exemption is not used to shelter […]

Take-Away: The Michigan Probate and Estate Planning Council is currently looking at an amendment to the Michigan Trust Code that would address the legal consequences of a trust beneficiary who exercises a power of appointment to include the trust settlor as a potential beneficiary of the trust that he/she created. This change, if adopted, would […]

Take-Away: The IRS recently published proposed new Regulations with regard to reporting obligations with regard to the sale of a life insurance contract which are intended to define how much of a life insurance death benefit is to be reported as taxable income. Background: One complicated area of the Tax Code is with regard to […]