Take-Away: With the compressed income tax brackets faced by non-grantor trusts, along with the possible imposition of additional income tax surcharges of 5% and 3%, more irrevocable non-grantor  trust should be drafted to include the authority of the trustee to make charitable distributions. Background: For years now we have come to deal with the high […]

Take-Away: While a trustee’s investment in cryptocurrencies, like Bitcoins, is permissible under the Uniform Prudent Investment Rule, a trustee may want to ‘go real slow’ before holding cryptocurrencies in trust. Background: Cryptocurrencies, like Bitcoins, is are receiving significant attention these days in the press and in Congress as part of the infrastructure legislation. For good […]

Take-Away: A trustee may be exposed to removal and ordered to reimburse the trust for fees and legal expenses incurred in a trust decanting that went awry. Background: In the past we have covered Michigan’s two trust decanting statutes. MCL 700.7820a permits changes primarily to a trust’s administrative provisions. A limited opportunity also exists to […]

Take-Away: When we talk about valuing an individual’s interest in a business, the question often arises if there will be valuation discounts applied to that business interest. Existing buy-sell agreements may, or may not, indicate if a valuation discount is to be applied when an individual owner’s interest is the subject of a buyout. Background: […]

Take-Away: A recent Michigan Court of Appeals decision acts as a good reminder of how valuable a trust can be to prevent a commingling of a gift or an inheritance to avoid a family business falling into an ex-spouse’s hands. Had premarital stock owned by the husband, received from his father’s trust, continued to be […]

Take-Away: Using retirement assets to satisfy an individual’s philanthropic objectives can be done in a tax-efficient way manner. Especially with a qualified charitable distribution (QCD.) However, you just have to know the rules. Background: It is that time in the calendar year when individuals start to think about charitable giving, and/or reducing their income tax […]

Take-Away: Michigan has yet to update its laws to address assisted reproductive technology (AR), although a bill on this topic has been languishing in Lansing for several years now. Background: With advances in medical technology, a child can be conceived with stored genetic material after the death of one or both genetic parents. Intestacy statutes, […]

Take-Away: An effort is underway to amend Michigan’s version of the Uniform Voidable Transaction Act in order to preserve the effectiveness of the Michigan Qualified Dispositions in Trust Act, i.e. Michigan’s version of a self-settled domestic asset protection trust, or DAPT. Background: Much of estate planning involves the efficient transfer of assets. One obvious transfer […]

Take Away: Don’t forget the above-the-line charitable donation deduction of $300 before the end of 2021 and cash gifts to charities. Background: To respond to the pandemic and the impact that it had on charities, the CARES Act of 2020 created the opportunity for an individual to gift $300. 00 to a charity and take […]

Take-Away: While the owner of a foreign bank account is supposed to disclose the existence of that account, some owners play the ‘audit game’ and fail to report their account(s) or they think the law does not apply to them. That failure to disclose a foreign financial account does not disappear just because the account […]