Estate and Elder Law

Recent Posts

California Income Taxation of Trusts: Pitfalls and Considerations for Settlors, Beneficiaries and Trustees
Posted on 2 Aug 2010 by Sonja K. Johnson, Esq.

Practitioners have long regarded trusts as essential tools for estate planning in no small part because of the potential they offer for federal gift and estate tax savings if structured properly. With so much emphasis on federal tax issues, however... Read More

Troutman Sanders LLP: New Virginia Law Authorizes Trust Decanting, Allowing A Trustee To Change Some Provisions of An Irrevocable Trust
Posted on 11 Jul 2012 by Troutman Sanders

By Carol F. Burger , Molly F. James , Melissa Roberts Tannery and Tania S. Sebastian Effective July 1, 2012, Virginia has a new law which permits the trustee to change some provisions of an irrevocable trust by appointing or decanting income and/or... Read More

Williams Mullen: Gift and Creditor Protection Planning with Virginia’s New Self-Settled Spendthrift Trust Statute
Posted on 6 Jun 2012 by Williams Mullen

BY: FARHAD AGHDAMI & JEFFREY D. CHADWICK On April 4, 2012, Governor McDonnell signed Senate Bill 11 into law, which permits the creation of "self-settled spendthrift trusts" in Virginia. A self-settled spendthrift trust is an irrevocable... Read More

Selling a Life Insurance Policy: Income Tax Consequences for a Non-Grantor Trust Seller and a Grantor Trust Purchaser
Posted on 2 Nov 2009 by Danielle T. Zaragoza, Esq., & Patrick McCabe, Esq.

Introduction The use of an irrevocable trust to hold one or more life insurance policies, with the main purpose of keeping the life insurance proceeds out of the grantor’s estate, is an established estate tax planning technique. There are circumstances... Read More

Tags: Trusts

Williams Mullen: Virginia Enacts Trust Decanting Statute
Posted on 13 Jun 2012 by Williams Mullen

BY: FARHAD AGHDAMI & JEFFREY D. CHADWICK On April 4, 2012, Governor McDonnell signed Senate Bill 110 into law, which allows trustees to exercise the power to distribute trust income or principal to or for the benefit of a beneficiary by distributing... Read More

Troutman Sanders LLP: Virginia Trust Law to Help Protect Assets from Creditors While Still Enjoying the Assets Takes Effect on July 1, 2012
Posted on 9 Jul 2012 by Troutman Sanders

By David N. Anthony , Melissa Roberts Tannery and Tania S. Sebastian Beginning July 1, 2012, Virginia will allow its residents to create qualified self-settled spendthrift trusts and achieve some protection from creditors. Va. Code Ann. §§... Read More

Morrison & Foerster LLP: Issuing a Trust’s Promissory Note to Defer Payment of a Unitrust Amount Should Not Cause the Trust to Recognize Gain or Loss
Posted on 30 May 2012 by Morrison and Foerster LLP

By Danielle T. Zaragoza, Esq ., Morrison & Foerster LLP The basic concept of a unitrust is that a fixed percentage of the fair market value of a trust's assets, redetermined each year, is paid out to the "income" beneficiary, regardless... Read More

Troutman Sanders LLP: Virginia Will Become Friendlier to Trustees on July 1, 2012
Posted on 29 Jun 2012 by Troutman Sanders

By David N. Anthony , Melissa Roberts Tannery and Tania S. Sebastian A change in Virginia law effective July 1, 2012, will limit trustee liability with respect to directed trusts, which is good news for corporate and individual trustees alike. The... Read More

How to Compel an Accounting from a Reluctant Trustee--and How a Trustee May Defend Such a Request
Posted on 2 Nov 2011 by Dawn Hall Cauthen

How do you advise a trust beneficiary who has repeatedly requested information from a trustee of a trust in which the beneficiary has an interest, only to be met with silence, delay, or incomplete and inconsistent responses? In this Analysis, trust... Read More

Transferring Family Homes: Family Limited Partnerships, LLCs, and Trusts
Posted on 10 Aug 2010 by Nancy G. Henderson

An alternative to gifting direct interests in a family home to children or other family members is to transfer the property to a family limited partnership (FLP) or a limited liability company (LLC) and to make gifts of interests in the partnership... Read More

James Cox on Virginia and West Virginia’s Adoption of Uniform Trust Code
Posted on 20 Sep 2011 by James P. Cox III

As a result of the increasing use of trusts in estate planning and a lack of comprehensive codification of the law governing trusts, in July of 2006 Virginia adopted its version of the Uniform Trust Code (UTC). Similarly, West Virginia has adopted... Read More

Decanting New York Trusts: EPTL 10-6.6 Significantly Revised
Posted on 27 Mar 2012 by Linda Hirschson and Shifra Herzberg

New York's decanting statute, EPTL 10-6.6 , was significantly amended by the 2011 Legislative Session. As a result, the trustee of a New York irrevocable trust has a much greater opportunity to decant assets from an existing trust to another trust... Read More

Elaine Gagliardi on Valuation of Retained Interests in Trust
Posted on 3 Apr 2009 by Elaine Hightower Gagliardi

In this Commentary, Elaine Gagliardi discusses proposed regulations specifying the amount to be included in the gross estate when the decedent at death retains an income, annuity or unitrust interest in a trust or the right to use a personal residence... Read More

Tags: Trusts

Estates and Trusts Permitted as Shareholders of an S Corporation
Posted on 25 Jun 2012 by Andrew W. Singer

In this Analysis, Andrew W. Singer Esq. provides a review of the estates and trusts that qualify to be shareholders in an S Corporation. He writes: Subchapter S has from its inception allowed estates of deceased individual shareholders to be shareholders... Read More

Ask Liza: Estate Planning Beats Avoidance
Posted on 7 Aug 2014 by Liza Weiman Hanks

By Liza Weiman Hanks | Dear Liza: We live in Nebraska. I own a ranch with my brother. Part of it we inherited and a small part we purchased from family members. The total value of the ranch is $2.7 million. We have a buy sell agreement between us.... Read More