Category: Trusts

One hundred years ago there were no commercial airplanes, women couldn't vote, the average family had 5 children, divorce was rare, children born outside of marriage had no inheritance rights, and surrogacy was virtually unheard of. In 2019 we have same-sex marriage, flexible gender identity, assisted reproductive technologies, digital assets, cryptocurrencies and an epidemic...

As discussed in the previous article, there are very few of your assets that are protected from creditors in the event of a lawsuit. There are some simple steps that you can take to address your asset’s vulnerability to attacks by creditors. Buy insurance. You should have a liability...

The word “Irrevocable” usually implies no ability to change. Most people believe that the Trustee is required to adhere to the wishes of the Trust’s creator, even though the times and circumstances have changed. Nonetheless, that is no longer true in the case of New York State.There are two circumstances where an Irrevocable Trust...

New York has a very strong policy against self-settled trusts. A self-settled trust is one where the Grantor transfers assets to an irrevocable trust but remains one of the Trust’s beneficiaries. While these transfers are legal, New York believes that they are “void as against creditors”. As a result, if the Grantor remains...

Joint Revocable Trust: Lots of spouses opt to create a joint revocable trust. In many situations, it makes a lot of sense to do so: First, in long term marriages, a lot of assets are owned jointly, so it can be an extra and unnecessary hassle to separate them. Second, the children are common, so...

Family Trustees: Very often, the Trustee of a Trust is a family member. There are many reasons to create a Trust, but most often all transactions are kept within a family. In those circumstances, the family member Trustee will often get paid nothing, or a nominal amount. The work is done out of...

If you have a loved one with a disability, their life can be significantly improved with additional funds (think of non-generic medicine, vacation, additional home care, specially outfitted car, etc).   Supplemental Needs Trusts are set up for people with disabilities. The purpose of this type of a Trust is to supplement, not to supplant...

In the past, when the federal estate tax threshold was $1MM, most estate planners concentrated on reducing or eliminating the estate taxes. The goal was to transfer out of the estate as soon as possible. Today’s estate tax threshold: Today, the individual federal estate tax threshold is $5.4MM. The New York State estate threshold...

Resident Trust: In general, a Trust is considered a Resident Trust and the Trustee must file New York State income tax, if the Trust was created by a New York State Testator or Grantor. What that means is if the property was being transferred to a Trust from a person who was domiciled in...