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The article discusses the considerations when contemplating using the Florida irrevocable grantor homestead trust (FIGHT). Topics include the purpose of FIGHT to avoid the devise restriction while maintaining homestead tax benefits and creditor protection, the estate, gift and income tax implications of the FIGHT, recommendation regarding the drafting of a FIGHT, and a discussion of a due-on-sale clause or an acceleration clause provision found in a mortgage.

The article provides understanding of the Florida irrevocable grantor homestead trust (FIGHT). Topics discussed include confusion regarding what constitutes a permissible lifetime alienation or conveyance of homestead property under the Florida law and purpose of FIGHT to avoid a mechanism to avoid devise restriction during the period that the transferor has a minor child while maintaining homestead creditor protection and tax benefits during the lifetime and after the death of the transferor.

The article discusses the amendments to the Utah Code Section 75-7-505 that would give more flexibility to estate planners and their clients in Utah in 2023. Topics include the provision of the amended code concerning irrevocable trust property, a description of the Utah irrevocable trust affected by the amendment, and the focus of the amendment on trusts that are intended to be the settlor's for income tax purposes or trusts that are referred to as irrevocable grantor gift trusts.

A new IRS ruling is positive in that it gives the strongest green light to the concept of decanting a trust. However, a key component of the ruling (not imposing any taxes) relates to the similarity between the old and new trusts, so it remains to be seen how the IRS will treat a decanting in which the two trusts are markedly different. Also, don't expect a lot of future guidance from the IRS. Thus, this ruling may constitute practitioners guidance for a while. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Estate plans often give trust beneficiaries powers of withdrawal for both tax and nontax reasons. For tax reasons, these powers of withdrawal are typically limited, such as a “five or five power” or a so-called Crummey power commonly pegged to the annual gift tax exclusion amount. A central issue with limited powers of withdrawal is the right of a beneficiary’s creditor to reach trust property subject to the beneficiary’s power to withdraw. Recent uniform statutes, such as the Uniform Trust Code and the Uniform Power of Appointment Act, as well as the Restatement (Third) of Trusts, provide guidance. This Article discusses the typical reasons for creating powers of withdrawal and the historical and recent treatment of the rights of creditors of trust beneficiaries with powers of withdrawal, along with some planning considerations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on need for additional procedural protections that are available with respect to litigation implicating citizenship status indirectly. It mentions need to place denaturalization in the context of citizenship theory more broadly and suggest that attempting to establish irrevocability. It also mentions difference between naturalborn and naturalized citizens' susceptibility to denaturalization and procurement of naturalization is inherently inconsistent with U.S. citizenship.

The article examines the provisions of the Community Property Trust Act (CPTA) in Florida, particularly on the taxation of a marital estate following a decedent spouse's death. Also cited are how estate planners can make a trust irrevocable under CPTA, how homestead property under said trust could lose their homestead exemption for taxation purposes, and the need to amend CPTA to eliminate said trusts.

The logic behind redistribution theories is that incumbents target benefits to build and sustain linkages with voters. However, a recent literature shows that some benefits can have a countervailing effect in environments plagued by clientelism: by permanently boosting voters' incomes, irrevocable and durable benefits might reduce their dependence on incumbents. This article explains how parties strategically allocate these benefits when trading off the income effect relative to the standard electoral rewards of redistribution. The theory highlights a previously unstudied rationale to target opposition areas: to weaken voters' dependence on machines. The framework is tested with administrative data on the allocation of cisterns by state governments across Brazilian semi‐arid municipalities, where clientelism is rampant. States favor areas governed by copartisans, but only where local clientelistic mobilization is weak. Where it is strong, states favor municipalities led by the opposition, while avoiding their own local strongholds. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Decanting, the process of transferring trust assets from one irrevocable trust to another, provides practitioners and clients alike with the unique opportunity to rewrite an irrevocable trust. State statutes provide the basis for the trustee's authority to transfer trust assets to a new trust with different dispositive provisions, allowing the trustee to account for unanticipated circumstances. It is a compelling and often underutilized tool in the estate planning community. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

History shows us that the law regarding federal transfer tax is ever changing. The economic fortunes of clients can be ever changing as well. In a time when the law and economy are increasingly volatile, providing clients with flexible plans that can adjust to future uncertainties is worthy advice. This article explores the drawbacks associated with traditional irrevocable life insurance trust planning, especially for couples considering the purchase of survivorship life insurance to provide liquidity for the survivor's estate. The purchase of Survivor Purchase Option riders, especially for the "mid-wealthy," is then analyzed, as a flexible alternative to survivorship life insurance which, when owned by an irrevocable trust, is a trapped asset unavailable to the surviving spouse who may face tough choices when his or her mate dies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Irrevocable life insurance trusts (ILITs) have been a cornerstone of sophisticated estate liquidity and wealth management planning for over 40 years. State Uniform Prudent Investor Act (UPIA) provisions generally place fiduciary-level responsibilities on trustees--whether skilled or unskilled--yet there remains a "disconnect" between ILIT duties and trustee activities. This article explains how this disconnect can be resolved and the form this process should take to protect the interests of all ILIT parties. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over the past couple of decades there has been an increase in people taking more active steps to protect their financial security due to outside events like the 2008 Recession and increased aggression from creditors. Because of this trend, irrevocable trusts have grown in popularity around the country as a way to best protect assets from creditors. This increased usage has opened up the possibility of these irrevocable trusts being used for abusive practices by their settlors. This susceptibility to abuse is partially because many courts have begun to apply the alter ego doctrine, a form of veil piercing traditionally applied to corporations, to irrevocable trusts in allowing creditors to access the assets in those trusts when the circumstances would deem not doing so unjust. The alter ego doctrine gives judges wide discretion when deciding whether to apply the doctrine, which creates uncertainty in the application of the law. This uncertainty then creates a situation where individual settlors do not know what the law actually is, which in turn could lead to more irrevocable trusts being used in such a way that could end up constituting abuse. This is particularly true in Iowa where the courts have yet to recognize that this kind of application is possible, and it is likely they will have to face this question sooner rather than later. This Note argues that Iowa should regulate this application of the alter ego doctrine through statute. This approach will limit judicial discretion and, in doing so, will allow for citizens of Iowa to understand the law regarding irrevocable trusts while using them. This Note also proposes an example of such a statute, which is inspired by other states and current Iowa alter ego law. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article both the nontax and tax considerations involved in selecting a family member to act as trustee of an irrevocable life insurance trust are explored. After comparing the relative nontax merits of using a family member trustee versus a professional trustee, the specific estate, gift, and income tax issues raised when the grantor, the grantor's spouse, or the grantor's children are named as trustees are addressed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The wait-and-see life exchange technique is based upon recently published Revenue Ruling 2011- 28, which provides that a grantor's retention of power, exercisable in a nonfiduciary capacity, to acquire a life insurance policy held in trust by substituting other assets of equivalent value won't, by itself, cause the value of the insurance policy to be includible in the grantor's gross estate, assuming certain conditions are met. This article explores the benefits and considerations of this technique and its applicability to the modern client. The article will focus on: the perceived and real inflexibility of current life insurance arrangements within traditional irrevocable life insurance trusts, the specifics of the revenue ruling and how they impact estate planning arrangements going forward, and a case example highlighting the flexibility of the new technique. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the creation of irrevocable homestead trust and the treatment of such trusts for federal income tax, estate tax and, ad valorem tax purposes in Florida. Topics covered include the treatment of homestead trusts for marital dissolution purposes, the requirements to be considered a beneficiary deemed owned trust (BDOT), a trust in which a child is treated as the owner, and sample provisions that should be included in such trusts.

Irrevocable life insurance trusts (ILITs) have been a significant planning tool for clients with taxable estates for many years. While the term "irrevocable" lends itself to an image of something that is rigid and final, with proper planning a great deal of flexibility can be incorporated into these trusts. This article will provide an overview of the traditional ILIT and will discuss potential planning opportunities that can provide clients access to trust assets, including those that hold second-to-die life insurance policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The heart of the question includes whether clients who are affluent, but not going to be subject to federal estate tax, should maintain an existing irrevocable trust in view of the current estate tax law. Closely related is the question of what the future estate tax law might be. Predictions on that score are dicey, especially when one projects a client's own life expectancy and tries to match it with a projection as to future asset values and the estate tax law. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Private split dollar is an effective wealth transfer planning tool for high-net-worth individuals and couples. This article examines the efficiency of private split dollar and compares results with traditional and hybrid premium financing programs. In the context of this comparison, the two split-dollar methods primarily employed within the private arena between either a donor or a donor's business and an irrevocable life insurance trust (ILIT)—typically referred to as nonequity collateral assignment and loan regime—are examined. Many times during the course of a private split-dollar agreement the former can be exchanged for the latter, timing the transition or "switch" to afford the optimum benefit to the client. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Whenever an agent uses an illustration in the sale of whole life or fixed universal life, current regulations require the insured/applicant's signature, essentially acknowledging receipt of a complete illustration and various understandings regarding any "nonguaranteed elements." Quite often, however, the insurance company issues the policy differently than was depicted on the original sales illustration--perhaps with a change in face amount, or with an additional benefit added (or deleted), or with a different risk classification than had been originally assumed. In these circumstances, current regulations also require that the agent provide a revised illustration to the insured/applicant so that he or she can then assess the impact of the change on the policy's anticipated performance (both guaranteed and otherwise). For a variety of reasons, the batch of most recent illustration regulations, including those pertaining to this particular provision, specifically exempted variable fife insurance from their purview. Many companies, nevertheless, provide a revised illustration for variable life--because it is the right and proper thing to do. But there are still some companies and agents that do not follow this procedure who have been subject to enough litigation to suggest that the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC), which sponsored the current regulations to begin with, should revisit the issue of variable life insurance sales illustrations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Evaluating most existing life insurance policies can be a complex undertaking and requires a combination of different kinds and degrees of knowledge of product information, advanced underwriting tools and techniques, and how reinsurance works, as well as some degree of medical underwriting expertise. Much of this knowledge, especially product knowledge and the role reinsurance plays, can best be comprehended by having a better understanding of the evolution of the industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In times of continued uncertainty, flexibility is more important than ever. Estate planning with life insurance is no exception. Combining a flexible irrevocable trust with flexible, cash value life insurance not only ensures the family's cash needs will be addressed but provides options to deal with unforeseen legislative and financial changes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on dissolution of a corporation with replacing equity shareholder loan with indicative effect of the approved annual financial statements. It mentions existence of the shareholder's claim against the company the reason and the amount and irrevocably declared that he would loans granted by him are in the crisis of society leave. It also mentions claims for repayment of the loan behind all present and future others.

For high net-worth clients, the gift tax consequences of funding an irrevocable life insurance trust (ILIT) can be a significant hurdle w proper estate planning. Few estate planning concepts offer the advantage of a Cristofani trust. A Cristofani trust allows an insured to maximize the number of annual exclusions without compromising testamentary wishes. In most cases, a Cristofani trust is simply an ILIT that terminates when the insured dies and the death benefit passes to the insured's children — unless the children predecease the insured. If the insured's children predecease the insured, grandchildren inherit the trust assets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article offers information on how the trust decanting process is practiced in Florida and discusses the changes to the statute related to it. Topics discussed include decanting as an extension of the power of a trustee over trust asset distribution, the absolute power of a trustee, and trust decanting for disabled beneficiaries.

The motivation behind this study resides in the heterogeneous development of life insurance across 31 European (developed and former communist) nations over the period 2002-2012. We use the dynamic panel methodology for explaining the main institutional drivers of life insurance consumption. The results show that the most significant institutional factor is governance effectiveness. Among the economic and demographic factors the interest rate and fiscal freedom exert a negative effect on life insurance consumption. Our results can be the basis for improving governance policies in former communist countries and for creating an institutional system of right incentives on the market. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research investigates life and health (LH) insurance consumption by exploiting the significant regional differences in socio-economic, demographic, and environmental factors in China. This paper further decomposes LH insurance consumption into three types: protection, investment, and health products. We find that changes in demographic conditions associated with the one-child policy, the urbanisation process, an ageing population and imbalanced dependency ratio are significantly related to the consumption of LH insurance, and environmental degradation risk is significantly related to the consumption of health insurance. The empirical results also suggest that insurers' characteristics and pricing strategies are additional important determinants of LH insurance consumption. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Spousal Access Trust refers to an irrevocable trust established by a married grantor for the benefit of the grantor's spouse during the spouse's lifetime, with the remainder interest passing to the couple's children after the spouse dies. It is usually structured as a grantor trust for income tax purposes, with the value of the trust removed from the grantor's estate for estate tax purposes, and from the surviving spouse's estate at his or her subsequent death. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Life insurance value stems from the myriad purposes accomplished with the money it generates. Life insurance cash maintains lifestyles, discharges liabilities, and funds commitments as well as dreams. It enables vulnerable people to have the time and wherewithal to fashion a new normal following the loss of those they loved and were financially dependent upon. Life insurance money also is an effective way to address emerging social and economic realities. It protects financially dependent persons of all ages. It funds educational opportunities and other competitive advantages. Life insurance cash sustains family caregivers. It facilitates long-term care and eases end-of-life experiences. No other financial instrument guarantees generally tax free money far exceeding the capital infused prior to death, while also amassing cash that is available tax efficiently during life. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Given a bimatrix game, the associated leadership or commitment games are defined as the games at which one player, the leader, commits to a (possibly mixed) strategy and the other player, the follower, chooses his strategy after being informed of the irrevocable commitment of the leader (but not of its realization in case it is mixed). Based on a result by Von Stengel and Zamir [2010], the notions of commitment value and commitment optimal strategies for each player are discussed as a possible solution concept. It is shown that in nondegenerate bimatrix games (a) pure commitment optimal strategies together with the follower's best response constitute Nash equilibria, and (b) strategies that participate in a completely mixed Nash equilibrium are strictly worse than commitment optimal strategies, provided they are not matrix game optimal. For various classes of bimatrix games that generalize zero-sum games, the relationship between the maximin value of the leader's payoff matrix, the Nash equilibrium payoff and the commitment optimal value are discussed. For the Traveler's Dilemma, the commitment optimal strategy and commitment value for the leader are evaluated and seem more acceptable as a solution than the unique Nash equilibrium. Finally, the relationship between commitment optimal strategies and Nash equilibria in 2 × 2 bimatrix games is thoroughly examined and in addition, necessary and sufficient conditions for the follower to be worse off at the equilibrium of the leadership game than at any Nash equilibrium of the simultaneous move game are provided. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Historically, trusts have been created for primarily two purposes: (1) to reduce the estates' taxable liability, and (2) to protect the estates' assets from creditors. In order for the trust funding to occur, however, certain constraints must be met to not only protect the assets but to control how its assets are to be dispersed. But what can be done if some change in circumstances potentially, and or, fundamentally alters the situation(s) upon which the original trust was created thus causing the trust to fail its intended purpose? Or what if the restrictive provisions in the original trust no longer adequately address the present circumstances and current environment of the beneficiaries? If the trust was revocable, the granter simply amends or revokes the trust changing its provisions to address the present situation or purpose. But, if the trust were irrevocable, it could be extremely difficult and expensive, and/or impossible to change any of the key provisions. This is where a process called "decanting" could provide a suitable solution, (presently not in all states). While it can be argued that decanting already exists under common law, 27 states have enacted "decanting" statutes. This gives the trustee stator authority to redistribute the trust's assets. There is a caveat however. While all of the states that have enacted decanting statutes give the trustee power to invade the trust corpus in order to decant, a couple of the states (Florida and New York) prohibit the trustee from decanting when the power to invade the trust's principal is limited to some defined standard. The difference between involving a court in the trust reformation and decanting is that under decanting, the trustee -can maintain the anonymity of the trustee's-provisions which is not an option with the court. This paper will examine the history of decanting, advantages/disadvantages of decanting, a list of circumstances where decanting might be a desired option, the steps to take in the decanting process, IRS rulings on decanting, and any regulatory limiting factors to be aware of in the decanting process. Again, not all states have decanting statutes, (as of the writing of this paper, only 27), and some have delimiting clauses that others do not have. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article provides information on some estate planning strategies, focusing particularly on irrevocable trusts. Allegedly, individuals use trusts to own life insurance policies in order to exclude the value of the proceeds from the insured's estate for federal estate tax purposes. While frequently used, irrevocable trusts should allegedly be established only after careful consideration by clients who have a clear sense of commitment. Trouble in a marriage or parent-child relationship may allegedly keep the irrevocable trust on the sideline. However, it often happens that the future arrives more suddenly than expected. Apparently, there are many circumstances that may call into question whether an irrevocable trust should be continued. In certain instances, a court proceeding may be an inevitable part of the process. In other cases, the attorney who directs the process may prefer to have court approval, even if judicial supervision is not strictly necessary. Occasionally, circumstances arise in which one irrevocable trust may be supplanted by another. For reasons unknown or unforeseen at the time when it was put into effect, an irrevocable trust may have outlived its usefulness.

The article focuses on the issues of use of irrevocable trusts in long-term Medicaid care planning in the U.S. Topics discussed include Medicaid laws concerning an individual's ability to use irrevocable trusts in long-term care planning; limiting State Medicaid agency in Massachusetts; and Doherty v. Director of the Office of Medicaid court case on same.

The article focuses on religious restrictions in a premarital agreement and addresses a range of economic plans without mentioning divorce and mentions how spouse can avoid prospect of a premarital agreement by placing premarital assets in an irrevocable settlor trust.

The article focuses on the decision of the Massachusetts Appeals Court in the case Pfannenstiehl v. Pfannenstiehl regarding the unnerving in that the beneficiary-husband's share in an irrevocable spendthrift trust created by his father for the marital asset subject to division in his divorce proceeding. It mentions that task of designing and implementing sustainable asset protection strategies to safeguard family assets by trustees and family advisors.

The article discuses decision of the Massachusetts Appeals Court for case Heyn v. Director of the Office of Medicaid. Topics discussed include specific reference of a case Nadeau v. Thorn; long-term care benefits of a nursing home resident Everlenna Roche terminated by the Massachusetts Medicaid and legislative history and case law concerning treatment of self-settled irrevocable irrevocable trusts.

The article focuses on the income tax planning of Florida for the Nonresident Floridian with the technique exists that utilizes a self-settled irrevocable trust with incomplete (gift) nongrantor trusts (ING). It mentions that grantor trust rules under subchapter J as per which powers retained by the grantor when approval is required of the grantor or a nonadverse party. It mentions that issuance of rulings by the U.S. Internal Revenue Service (IRS) for transfer taxation.