Estates and Trusts Commons^™

Practical Planning Ideas For Distibutions From Iras And Qualified Plans, 37 J. Marshall L. Rev. 807 (2004), Steven R. Lifson

UIC Law Review

No abstract provided.

Family Limited Partnerships: Discounts, Options, And Disappearing Value, Karen C. Burke, Grayson M.P. Mccouch

UF Law Faculty Publications

Family partnerships have been become increasingly popular as a means of avoiding estate and gift taxes. As other estate freezing techniques have been closed off by statutory anti-abuse rules, estate planners have increasingly resorted to partnerships as a vehicle for transferring assets within a family at deeply discounted values. Discounts ranging from one-third to over one-half of the value of the underlying assets are routinely claimed, and often allowed, based on lack of marketability and lack of control, even where these disabilities have no lasting or ascertainable economic effect. Nevertheless, the use of family partnerships to suppress value for transfer …

Abandoning Principles: Qualified Tuition Programs And Wealth Transfer Taxation Doctrine, Wayne M. Gazur

Publications

In 1996 Congress gave its imprimatur to a modest qualified tuition program provision. Over the course of the next five years the provision was expanded, providing additional wealth transfer taxation and income taxation benefits. This essay proposes that unless limited, such benefits are inconsistent with established taxation principles and also have the potential to undermine the integrity of the wealth transfer tax structure and the progressive nature of the income tax.

Shape Up Or Ship Out: Accountability To Third Parties For Patent Ambiguities In Testamentary Documents, Angela M. Vallario

All Faculty Scholarship

The attorney's preparation of a testamentary document (hereinafter sometimes referred to as a will or revocable trust) should clearly and accurately reflect the client's last wishes. Although these testamentary documents should reflect the client's intent, they often fall short of accomplishing that goal. There are numerous examples of will and trust construction cases that exhaust tremendous resources in an effort to ascertain the client's wishes or intent. Many of these cases involve the construction of patent and/or latent ambiguities which should have been resolved by appropriate drafting. This article's scope is limited to patent ambiguities caused by the attorney's negligence …

Private Lands Conservation In The British Virgin Islands, Joan Marsan, University Of Colorado Boulder. Natural Resources Law Center

Books, Reports, and Studies

46 p. ; 28 cm

Private Lands Conservation In Grenada, Kevin Doran, University Of Colorado Boulder. Natural Resources Law Center

Books, Reports, and Studies

47 p. ; 28 cm

Private Lands Conservation In Guam, Craig Corona, University Of Colorado Boulder. Natural Resources Law Center

Books, Reports, and Studies

93 p. ; 28 cm

Private Lands Conservation In The Federated States Of Micronesia, Kevin Doran, University Of Colorado Boulder. Natural Resources Law Center

Books, Reports, and Studies

74 p. ; 28 cm

Private Lands Conservation In The Solomon Islands, Craig Corona, University Of Colorado Boulder. Natural Resources Law Center

Books, Reports, and Studies

69 p. ; 28 cm

Private Lands Conservation In St. Vincent And The Grenadines, Julie Truelsen, University Of Colorado Boulder. Natural Resources Law Center

Books, Reports, and Studies

56 p. ; 28 cm

Investing Trust Assets: Prudence Redefined, Mark R. Gillett

Faculty Articles

No abstract provided.

Level Five Philanthropy: Designing A Plan For Strategic, Effective, Efficient Giving, James Edward Harris

University of Arkansas at Little Rock Law Review

No abstract provided.

Life After Death? The Role Of Postmortem Events In Valuing Deductions For Claims Against Estates, Benjamin Clark Brown

Washington and Lee Law Review

No abstract provided.

Why Craft Isn't Scary, Steve R. Johnson

Scholarly Publications

In April 2002, the Supreme Court of the United States decided United States v. Craft. The Court held that the federal tax lien attaches to a tax-debtor spouse’s interest in property held in tenancy by the entirety even when the other spouse does not owe tax and state law provides that entireties property and interests cannot be reached by separate creditors of only one spouse.

Craft was correctly decided. The older, contrary view that Craft displaced was fundamentally at odds with federal tax collection analysis as laid out by the Court. In addition, the old view invited tax abuse and …

Property Law: The Uniform Conservation Easements Act: An Attorney's Guide For The Oklahoma Landowner, Erin Mcdaniel

Oklahoma Law Review

No abstract provided.

Last Gasp Estate Planning: The Formation Of Family Limited Liability Entities Shortly Before Death, Walter D. Schwidetzky

All Faculty Scholarship

Family limited partnerships have been popular gift and estate tax planning vehicles for many years. In recent years, family limited liability companies (LLCs) have also become common, particularly in those states that have updated their statutes to take the check-the-box regulations into account. LLCs with more than one member are usually classified as partnerships for federal income tax purposes. In a typical structure, when there is adequate planning, the donors form a limited partnership or an LLC (jointly, 'family limited liability entity' or FLLE), to which they contribute assets expected to appreciate in value. This article will focus on such …

Does A Life Insurance Subtrust Create A Prohibited Assignment Within A Qualified Plan?, 34 J. Marshall L. Rev. 727 (2001), Stephen Brooks

UIC Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Death Of The Income Tax (Or, The Rise Of America’S Universal Wage Tax), Edward J. Mccaffery

Indiana Law Journal

The killing of the income tax has not been open and notorious: such is not the style of contemporary politics. As with other markers of progressive social policy—the promises of universal health care, Obamacare, come to mind6—the income tax is dying a death by stealth, albeit stealth played out in plain view. The plot lines of the tragedy are apparent. The individual “income” tax has been split in two. One tax, for the masses, is a simple, increasingly formless wage tax. This wage/income tax adds higher brackets onto the payroll tax, the model toward which the wage/income tax aims, to …

Rethinking The Progressive Estate And Gift Tax, Barbara Redman

Akron Tax Journal

This article will not review the philosophical arguments about the legitimacy of unearned wealth versus the right of a person to give as she pleases with her own accumulation. Rather, it will focus on a view of the tax not yet explored to any great extent in legal and political circles, but supported by recent economic research, and to argue, if not against the tax itself, at least against the progressive nature of the tax.

Death Taxes: A Critique From The Margin, Patricia A. Cain

Cleveland State Law Review

The proper taxation of the family under both the income tax and the estate tax has been debated for ages. It is an old issue. My purpose, however, is to consider the issue from a perspective somewhat different from that of those who have debated the issue over the years. My perspective is the perspective of the marginalized taxpayer. I critique from this perspective to see if it can tell us anything new about the old debate and to ensure that the ultimate tax treatment is just as to all taxpayers. The estate tax is supposed to be a tax …

The Death Of The "Death Tax"?: An Introduction, Deborah A. Geier

Cleveland State Law Review

I would like to consider the question: What brings us together today to consider the possible repeal of the estate tax? We would not likely be here today if the repeal of the estate tax were not a serious political possibility, and it would not likely be a serious political possibility if many middle-class taxpayers earning the median household income of about $40,000 to $50,000 per year did not support outright repeal, rather than much needed reform. The article then explains why taxpayers support outright repeal today when they would not have done so even ten years ago. The article …

Living Trusts In The Unauthorized Practice Of Law: A Good Thing Gone Bad, Angela M. Vallario

All Faculty Scholarship

An elderly man recently lost his wife and visits the lawyer's office for assistance in the administration of her estate. After the attorney expresses her condolences, she asks if his wife had a will. The client reaches into a brown shopping bag and retrieves a two-and-a-half inch black binder containing several trusts. The elderly gentleman and his deceased wife were told this would eliminate the expensive legal nightmare of probate. Unfortunately, like many others, this couple was victimized by a trust mill.

University Of Richmond Law Review

University of Richmond Law Review

No abstract provided.

Learning To Live With The New Foreign Nongrantor Trust Rules, Carlyn S. Mccaffrey, Elyse G. Kirschner

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

The Small Business Job Protection Act of 1996 (the 1996 Act) was intended to deal a heavy blow to the appeal of foreign trusts to U.S. persons. The results were mixed. On the one hand, the 1996 Act imposes an array of reporting requirements, imposes harsh penalties on failures to comply with these requirements, increases the interest charge imposed on taxes paid on distributions of accumulated income from foreign trusts, treats loans of cash from foreign trusts as distributions, and expands the kinds of gifts that can be treated as indirect transfers from foreign trusts. On the other hand, curiously, …

Ten Limitations To Ponder On Farm Limited Liability Companies, Jesse Richardson, L. Leon Geyer

Law Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Death By A Thousand Cuts: The Rule Against Perpetuities, Angela M. Vallario

All Faculty Scholarship

This article suggests the policy and social justifications against dead hand control far outweigh transfer tax advantages provided to wealthy settlors and the potential revenue expected to be generated by the abolishment legislation. The abolishment legislation may be readily adopted by other jurisdictions in light of the legislatures' failure to recognize the consequences of unlimited dead hand control.

This article recognizes that the Rule is complicated, and Rule violations present harsh consequences for practitioners and their clients. In fact, violations of the Rule, due to its complexity, have been held as an attorney error, not subject to a malpractice claim. …

Muddling Along With The Federal Wealth Transfer Tax: A Survey Of Practitioners And Law School Professors, Wayne M. Gazur

Publications

Recent efforts to repeal the wealth transfer tax system have prompted enormous discussion. In this Article, the author presents the results of his survey of members of the American Bar Association Real Property, Probate and Law Section about this issue and other reforms which have been enacted or suggested.

Trusts And Estates Practice Into The Next Millennium, Marc S. Bekerman, Gerry W. Beyer

Articles & Chapters

As the world prepares to enter the next millennium, the practice of trusts and estates law continues to evolve. Factors driving this evolution include an increase in life expectancy, numerous advances in medical technology, the increased geographic mobility of individuals, the growing use of revocable trusts as will substitutes, the trend to abolish the rule against perpetuities and restrictions on the ability of creditors to reach self-settled trusts. Due to advances ranging from low-tech improvements, such as refrigeration and sewer systems, to sophisticated medical procedures, such as organ transplantation and dialysis, people are living longer than their ancestors. This article …

Respect For "Form" As "Substance" In U.S. Taxation Of International Trusts, Donald D. Kozusko, Stephen K. Vetter

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

...we might decide that the attribution rule should not be applied so broadly, or so automatically. But how would such a system be devised by regulation? The attribution rule could be applied to trusts in which the discretion of the trustee is very limited and the beneficial interests so clearly ascertainable that the trust is, for all practicable purposes, transparent. That is, however, only a small universe of cases. This leads to the further conclusion that the attribution rule has to be applied based on a facts and circumstances determination of the beneficial interest in each case. Yet that seems …

Marriage And The Income Tax Yesterday, Today, And Tomorrow: A Primer And Legislative Scorecard, Ann F. Thomas

Articles & Chapters

No abstract provided.