Grandson’s Trust Not Countable Asset Even After Modification
Too often, people fail to adequately plan for their children (or grandchildren) who have disabilities. This week we read a Nebraska case about a grandson’s trust that put his public benefits at risk. His grandmother had created a trust for him, but it was not a “special needs” trust. The courts fixed the problem, but […]
New Arizona Case Clarifies Trust Decanting
Circumstances change. Trusts often are not adaptable to those changes. Sometimes trusts run for many years, or even decades. Increasingly, lawyers and trustees turn to trust decanting as a means of updating older trust language. What is trust decanting? Decanting is a relatively recent idea in trust administration. In some circumstances, a trustee may be […]
Does Your Existing Trust Split Into Two Shares On a Spouse’s Death?
MARCH 9, 2015 VOLUME 22 NUMBER 10 A letter from a reader asks: “My husband and I set up a revocable trust which will divide our assets in half when one of us dies. This was to avoid estate taxes. Now that estate taxes are no longer a problem, are there still benefits to splitting […]
Advice for Trustees: When to Make a Requested Distribution
OCTOBER 13, 2014 VOLUME 21 NUMBER 37 Let’s imagine that you are the trustee of an irrevocable trust, and you are considering making a distribution from the trust. Perhaps the distribution has been requested by a beneficiary, or a family member. How do you make your decision? There is surprisingly little written direction for trustees. […]
Trust for Surviving Spouse Leads to Dispute With Stepchildren
FEBRUARY 17, 2014 VOLUME 21 NUMBER 7 When Albert Findlay (not his real name) died in 2002, he left a trust for the benefit of his wife Sharon. Sharon was named as trustee, and the trust document directed that she was to receive “the entire net income” from the trust for the rest of her […]
Excessive Fee in Special Needs Trust Leads to Lawyer’s Suspension
OCTOBER 17, 2011 VOLUME 18 NUMBER 36 Lawyers are ethically prohibited from charging excessive fees. Period. It doesn’t matter if the lawyer has a fee agreement calling for an excessive fee. It doesn’t matter if the negotiated fee seemed reasonable at the time, but turned out to be excessive as things developed. It doesn’t matter […]
Remainder Beneficiaries Not Entitled to Trust Beneficiary’s Financial Info
SEPTEMBER 12, 2011 VOLUME 18 NUMBER 32 Imagine with us for a moment: you are the trustee of an irrevocable trust created by a now-deceased woman for the benefit of her daughter. The trust says that her daughter is to receive all the income generated by the trust. You are also given the discretion to […]
