Missives

There is a push to delay some of the reporting deadlines that are contained in the Corporate Transparency Act.

A trustee has a duty to change the situs of the Trust it administers to minimize, or completely avoid, the imposition of state income taxes on the Trust’s accumulated income.

The tax benefits from owning qualified small business stock (QSBS) can be enhanced if the sales proceeds are rolled into a new QSBS investment.

Michigan now has a silent trust statute. Is that a good thing?

Some states now offer the use of a community property trust, even for nonresidents. While the tax savings using a community property trust can be extraordinary, there are still some risks in their use.

The use of a domestic asset protection trust (DAPT) often attracts a considerable amount of negativity, some finding them to be morally wrong, or per se a fraudulent transfer. Yet the negative connotations associated with a DAPT are often the product of egregious facts that lead a court to place the DAPT’s in jail for flaunting the court’s order.

Some of the provisions of the SECURE Act 2.0 that need fixing may soon take place.

We may soon learn if it is constitutional for Congress to tax unrealized appreciation, aka impose a wealth tax.

Sometimes we need to remember that ‘once a fiduciary, always a fiduciary’ when it comes to exercising powers delegated under a Trust instrument which in turn invites a bad faith analysis by the courts.

It would be best to identify in a Trust instrument exactly when a trust beneficiary’s lifestyle is to be determined with regard to the direction to a trustee to make discretionary distributions that take into consideration the trust beneficiary’s lifestyle or other financial resources that may be available to the beneficiary.