Take-Away: One court recently held that a deems advisable discretionary trust distribution standard permitted the trustee to require the production of the trust beneficiary’s business records. This standard is frequently used when an asset-protection discretionary trust is created for the trust beneficiary, as provided under Michigan’s Trust Code, the beneficiary does not possess any property […]

Take-Away: Gross taxable income of an individual includes income from the discharge of indebtedness. The Tax Code does, however, provide a set of exceptions to this general rule. The nature of a business, e.g. partnership vs LLC vs S corporation that has its indebtedness discharged can lead to differences in how that discharge of indebtedness […]

Take-Away: There is a renewed interest in long-term care insurance policies now that insurance companies have become more creative, especially with their introduction of hybrid life policies. Some existing life insurance policies, even those held in an irrevocable life insurance trust (ILIT) might be appropriate to be exchanged for a hybrid life insurance policy. Background: Long-term […]

Take-Away: In a surprise decision from the Tax Court, a fairly common type of charitable residuary bequest was denied a charitable estate tax deduction, raising some concerns about the use of this type of ‘reduce-to-zero’ type of formula gift. Reported Case: Estate of Howard Moore v. Commissioner, Tax Court Memo, Cas. Now. 21209-09 and 22082-09 […]

Take-Away: About a year ago I wrote about a trustee that refuses to go along with a trust settlor’s retained right to substitute assets of equivalent value with the trust. This is an update to that earlier missive, as there has been another court decision that addressed the trustee’s refusal to go along with the […]

Take-Away: Dealing with the formal execution of estate planning documents during a pandemic can be a real challenge. While the Governor’s two Executive Orders has facilitate the execution of Wills, Trusts, and Durable Powers of Attorney, several questions remain when attempting to comply with the requirements of those two Executive Orders that are intended to […]

Take-Away: There has been considerable discussion recently about a trustee’s liability, especially with the adoption of Michigan’s directed and divided trustee statute, which are intended to shield a trustee from unwarranted liability. [MCL 700.7703a.] Far less attention is given to a beneficiary’s potential liability for debts of their trust or for their own actions with […]

Take-Away: Spousal rollovers were not changed by the SECURE Act. Naming a spouse as the decedent’s designated beneficiary is still the most tax-efficient manner in which to transmit a retirement account on the decedent-spouse’s death to his or her survivor, among several different options. While naming a spouse is the most tax effective manner to […]

The IRS published the applicable federal rates of interest for June, 2020 yesterday in Revenue Ruling 2020-12. Those rates follow: Short term (0 to 3 years) 0.18% Mid-term (3 to 9 years) 0.43% Long Term (9 years and up) 1.01% These historically low interest rates would be used in intra-family loan and sale transactions to […]

Take-Away: The IRS recently published a new Revenue Ruling that affects the income tax basis of a life insurance policy. That change will have a positive impact on a life-settlement sale of a life insurance policy. The change may also have a modest impact on the amount of gain recognized if the death benefit received […]