The take-away from the recent 2026 Priority Guidance Plan is to not expect much guidance from the IRS in the gift, estate, and GST areas for the next 18 months. If questions remain on the interpretation of gift, estate or GST taxes, individuals, will be forced to request (and pay for) Private Letter Rulings.

In recent years the IRS, along with Congress, seems to be stepping up its challenges to the deductibility of claims filed against a decedent’s estate, with many more conditions and limitations on the amount of the deduction.

A resulting trust is a remedy when a trust fails, i.e., when there are no surviving beneficiaries or when the trust instrument does not dispose of the trust property on its termination. The remedy attempts to carry out the settlor’s intent in those narrow situations. If the intent cannot be determined, the remedy can result in a reversion of trust property to the settlor or the settlor’s estate. However, if the court can determine what the settlor ‘would have wanted, had the trust not failed’ then, as with the Kalbach Trust, the court will attempt to effectuate the settlor’s presumed intent without imposing a resulting trust.

Individuals often use a revocable trust to avoid probate on their death. Surprisingly, having a successor trustee is not enough if there is litigation in the Tax Court.

In limited situations, a merger of two trusts might be more effective than a decanting of one trust to another trust, or a trust modification under the Michigan Trust Code which involves the probate court’s approval.

The OB3 ‘tinkered’ with the IRC 199A qualified business income tax deduction, essentially expanding the number of pass-through business owners who can qualify to claim some, or all, of the income tax deduction. Sadly, OB3 did not simplify the cumbersome phase-in rules or make the deduction available to all service providers as was hoped.

Achieving Better Life Experience Accounts (ABLE Accounts ) were introduced in 2014 to enable disabled individuals who rely on public benefit programs for support to work, earn and save for their own future. The One Big Beautiful Bill, along with the recent ABLE Age Adjustment Act, both expand eligibility and increase contribution opportunities to ABLE accounts, which will hopefully provide more savings incentives for disabled individuals.

Usually not a lot of thought goes into a choice of law provision in a trust. However, as more and more states update their trust laws with the goal to attract trust ‘business,’ the temptation to ‘shop’ for a more favorable state to govern the trust’s interpretation and administration will occur. It is in these situations where the choice of law provision of a trust will run up against another state’s contrary strong public policy which will override the settlor’s choice of law provision.

The One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OB3) makes three significant changes to the gain avoidance rules associated with Qualified Small Business stock, adding to the incredible benefits associated with such stock.

A confidential relationship is treated as a fiduciary relationship when it comes to the presumption of undue influence in Michigan legal proceedings. Unlike formal titles or roles of a customary fiduciary, a confidential relationship can arise from informal relationships, e.g., caregiver-elderly person, or unique facts and circumstances where there is reliance in a trusted relationship which results in control by another.