Background: With all of the talk these days about the expected fundamental changes in the tax laws Congress might adopt this year, there has been a renewed (or perhaps an accelerated) interest in the use of an intentionally defective grantor trust (IDGT). While no one actually can predict what the final tax laws will look […]

While we do not regularly deal with prenuptial agreements at GLT, we know that many of our clients  are in second and third marriages who have entered into a prenuptial agreement with the intent to protect their premarital separate property assets in the event of death (where the surviving spouse often waives his/her elective or […]

There was a recent case  out of Oklahoma that came close to answering a question many advisors have wondered about since 2010, whether portability is an asset. The reported decision is from the Oklahoma Supreme Court, Estate of Anne S. Vose v Lee.2017 WL 167587 (Okla. 2017) The facts were pretty predictable that brought this […]

We can expect a fair amount of discussion and analysis in the coming year with regard to asset protection trusts now that Michigan has enacted its own Qualified Disposition in Trust Act, i.e. the legal authority to create a self-settled Michigan asset protection trust. There will no doubt be some interesting questions associated with the […]

A recent Tax Court Decision came across my desk the other day that acts as a reminder that making a spousal rollover of a decedent spouse’s IRA is sometimes not the ‘no brainer’ decision that clients and advisors often ascribe to it. In Susanne D. Oster Ozimkoski, T.C. Memo, 2016-228 (December 19, 2016) the Husband […]

Apparently Lauree has already fielded a question from a physician if he should  look at adopting a Michigan Qualified Dispositions in Trust, aka ‘asset protection trust?’  Lauree could have predicted my lawyer-like answer: “It depends.” My sense is that I would not immediately recommend an asset protection trust to a client unless I had already […]

It was recently suggested to me that members of the client centric team want to know a bit more about IRAs and the distribution rules associated with IRAs. In response to that inquiry, I thought I would begin a series of summaries over the next few weeks to address the IRA rules, admittedly  on a […]

Take-away: The immediate distribution of a large home after the owner’s death can become a burden on the heir who receives title to the home. Leaving one home to several beneficiaries is also problematic. Keeping a family home or cottage in continuing trust after the owner’s death for a period of time can accomplish several […]

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 […]