Take-Away: Despite all the talk about the elimination of the federal estate tax, now is not the time for clients to terminate existing life insurance policies that they may have initially purchased for liquidity purposes to pay federal estate taxes. Several more benefits are associated with life insurance than just furnishing instant liquidity to pay […]

John D. Rockefeller:   “Control everything, own nothing!” Take-Away: Implicit in Mr. Rockefeller’s observation,  and intrinsic to trusts in general, is that limited control and beneficial enjoyment are desirable, while holding title is harmful. That is because holding title to an asset invites taxes and creditors.  One could make a strong argument that inherited assets held […]

Take-Away: Michigan’s decanting statutes may not be as limiting as initially believed to be the case, depending on the distribution language that is used in the irrevocable trust instrument. Context:  The name of the game is flexibility these days in drafting irrevocable trusts so that the trust can be modified in the future, especially for […]

Take-Away: We all know how important it is for our clients to have in place a Durable Power of Attorney for financial decision-making in anticipation of a future disability. It is important that the Durable Power of Attorney contains a specific delegation of powers to the principal’s agent. The law does not presume that a […]

Take-Away: An IRA Trust is a form instrument that is used by a large stock brokerage company to take title to a customer’s IRA which assures that only required minimum distributions (RMDs) are paid out to the IRA Trust beneficiaries (a conduit type of trust.) Some advantaged do exist if an IRA Trust is considered […]

Take-Away: There still might be a couple of planning opportunities available to clients if Congress decides to eliminate the stretch IRA rule. It might be a good idea to start some dialogue with clients at an early date to prepare them, and their plans, for the death of the stretch. Background: A few days ago […]

Take-Away:  When dealing with asset protection trusts, plan on strictly complying with all of the statute’s requirements, otherwise a court will ignore the trust when the settlor’s creditors appear. Context: We are starting to get a few more inquiries with regard to asset protection trusts, now that Michigan has adopted its own version of a […]

Monday night I had the opportunity to listen to a speech with regard to  Michigan’s new asset protection trust act [The Qualified Dispositions in Trust Act] by one of its principal draft-persons, Rob Tiplady, an Ann Arbor attorney.  What follows are a summary of my notes taken during Rob’s presentation that described Michigan’s newest trust […]

If you are a parent with minor children, you need to be aware of a subtle change in Michigan’s law that became effective on March 29th  of this year. Many of you know that you can execute a Power of Attorney to delegate parental authority over a minor child. My wife and I used these […]

Warning: What follows is pretty technical. Take-Away: I am the first to admit that no one gets  excited about reading the Uniform Principal and Income Act (UPAIA). However,  the UPAIA’s rules  are critically important to trustees that must impartially administer irrevocable Trusts for present and future beneficiaries in a low investment income environment.  Understanding those […]