Paul O. Dillon, Attorney at Law

Estate Planning Steps to Contemplate in 2025

One of the tasks for families and business owners to consider at the start of a new year is estate planning. Did any special events occur in 2024, making it necessary for your estate plan to be updated? Or has another year passed since you didn’t get to update an existing plan or even have an estate plan created? What about a succession plan? A recent article from Cincinnati Business Courier, “5 key considerations for personal estate planning in 2025: An attorney’s perspective,” examines steps to take in the new year.

What’s going to happen with the federal gift, estate and generation-skipping transfer tax exemptions? The exemption is currently $13.61 million and will increase to $13.99 million in January (indexed for inflation). The legislation creating these levels expires on January 1, 2026, but the future of the exemption remains uncertain. Many high-net-worth individuals and families are going forward with estate planning strategies to ensure that their estates are not hit with taxes in case the exemption is reduced.

Annual gift tax exclusion rises to $19,000 in 2025. The IRS recently announced an increase in the annual gift tax exclusion, which took place in January 2025, from $18,000 to $19,000. This is the amount any individual can gift to as many people as they wish without using up any of their lifetime exemptions. A married couple can make gifts of $38,000 to as many individuals as they want.

Grandparents who gift $38,000 to grandchildren and adult children can transfer a tidy sum to their descendants in a single year without using any of their own exemption amounts. Speak with your estate planning attorney about whether or not it makes sense to file a gift tax form with the IRS. There are instances where this is not required. However, it is helpful for future planning.

Deadline for the Corporate Transparency Act is approaching. Business owners should speak with their estate planning attorney about the Corporate Transparency Act to see if they need to file a beneficial owner information report. Any reporting company established before January 1, 2024, is required to file the initial beneficial owner information report before January 1, 2025. A reporting company created in 2024 has to file within 90 days of formation. Even single-member limited liability corporation (LLC) owners should check with their attorneys to ensure that they meet reporting obligations.

Family-owned and other closely held business organizations should consider the new year a time to start creating or updating a succession plan. The succession plan needs to align with the estate plan and serve two goals: avoiding probate and ensuring a seamless transition for employees and clients.

Will the recent Connelly decision impact your business succession plan? This high court decision centered on whether or not proceeds from a business owner’s life insurance should be included in the value of the business for estate tax purposes. The court ruled a company’s obligation to redeem a deceased shareholder under a stock redemption plan cannot be used to offset the insurance proceeds when calculating the value of the company as part of the owner’s estate. Business owners need to consider how their succession plan is structured, including life insurance, and discuss whether changes need to be made.

Reference: Cincinnati Business Courier (Dec. 3, 2024) “5 key considerations for personal estate planning in 2025: An attorney’s perspective”

Who Should Pay Taxes on Trust Income?

Irrevocable trusts include language directing how taxes on income should be paid. This falls into two general kinds of taxes, according to a recent article from Kiplinger, “Should You or the Trust Pay a Trust’s Income Taxes?” The first category includes transfer taxes, typically in the form of gift and estate taxes and generation-skipping transfer taxes, which are less common. The second category includes income taxes, such as earned income taxes and income taxes on investments, as well as capital gains taxes, best described as income taxes on property appreciation following the sale or exchange of property.

Who is responsible for paying these taxes? Rental income from real estate, profits from trust investments, appreciation income from selling property and distributions of assets from the trust are all taxable. Trust income is reported on either the trust’s income tax returns or on the tax return of either the trust maker or the beneficiary. The trust income tax return pays taxes at trust tax rates, while the beneficiary will pay taxes at individual tax rates.

While it seems intuitive to opt for the trust to pay the taxes, trust tax rates are often far higher than individual tax rates.

Trust tax rates are higher because an irrevocable trust has only hundreds of dollars of standard deductions. Irrevocable trusts pay the highest federal taxes after a few thousand dollars of income. Unless the trust maker is already paying taxes in the highest tax brackets, it’s almost always less costly for the taxes to be paid by the trust maker.

When speaking with your estate planning attorney about how to structure an irrevocable trust, the conversation will include how the irrevocable trust’s tax responsibilities will be managed. When the trust is being created, examine your budget to ensure the taxes will be manageable.

The language in the trust is known as “grantor trust status,” permitting the trust maker or another person to pay trust income taxes.

When an irrevocable trust is treated as a grantor trust, the trust maker is treated as the owner of the trust’s income or principal and must include any items about trust income, deductions and credits on their personal tax filing. This is required even though income remains in the trust.

Making matters more complicated, in some cases, having trust income tax grantor powers may mean the trust is included in the trust maker's taxable estate. Estate taxes are different from trust taxes. If the grantor has the power to revoke or amend the trust, it may also be considered part of the grantor’s taxable estate, as opposed to a true irrevocable trust outside of their estate.

Creating and planning trusts should only be done with the help of an experienced estate planning attorney, as there are many nuances to be considered.

Reference: Kiplinger (July 1, 2024) “Should You or the Trust Pay a Trust’s Income Taxes?”

How to Protect Wealth over Generations

The Gilded Age was a time of rapid economic growth, creating extraordinary new wealth, materialistic excess, political corruption and terrible poverty and struggle for the lower economic classes. Famous families from this era, including the Rockefellers, Carnegies, Vanderbilts and Astors, had huge wealth. Nevertheless, not all benefited from multi-generational estate planning, says the article “Estate Planning to Protect Generational Wealth Transfers: Lessons From The Gilded Age” from mondaq.

The Vanderbilt family's wealth came from shipping and railroad empires. In 1877, the family’s wealth was estimated at $200 million—$105 billion in today’s value. The family name continues, but with every generation, the size of the wealth dwindles. While the exact terms of the Vanderbilt estate plan are unknown, it’s understood that the family had no strategic long-term plan.

The Pulitzer family is best known for the Pulitzer Prize and the founding of the Columbia Journalism School. Two generations after Joseph Pulitzer's death, a grandson lost most of the massive fortune in a single bad investment. Without a multi-generational plan for wealth transfer, the fortune evaporated.

The Rockefellers are known as one of the Gilded Age families that got estate planning right. They used irrevocable trusts to protect assets from wasteful spending by heirs over multiple generations. The Rockefellers created business succession plans and incorporated philanthropic goals that are still used today.

Your family can benefit from trust and estate plans, even if you’re not worth $100 billion. Creating a strategic plan to protect and transfer wealth over many generations can happen with the skilled experience of an estate planning attorney. Teaching financial literacy and shared family values, including understanding the importance of stewarding wealth and philanthropy, is as important as the money itself.

Generation-skipping trusts (GSTs) are just one means of preserving wealth transfer. With a GTS, a grandparent can leave assets in the trust to grandchildren and other beneficiaries at least 37.5 years younger. By skipping a generation, federal estate taxes aren’t paid twice on inherited assets. Trusts have also been used to offer creditor protection for generations. Divorcing parties can’t access funds in a trust.

If appropriate, there are some states where perpetual trusts are permitted. An estate planning attorney will be able to make recommendations as to whether these are appropriate for your family.

Selecting trustees and successor trustees is extremely important for wealth to last over many generations. Your estate planning attorney will also guide you in choosing either individuals or institutions to ensure trustee power is in the right hands.

Reference: mondaq (June 18, 2024) “Estate Planning to Protect Generational Wealth Transfers: Lessons From The Gilded Age”

What are the Federal and Gift Tax Exemptions for 2024?

Unless Congress acts, regulations that elevated exemptions will expire at the end of 2025, and the exemption will be cut by about half, says the article “Take Advantage Of Increased Gift And Estate Tax Exclusions in 2024” from mondaq.

Those whom the gift and estate tax may impact should speak with their estate planning attorney about using this historically high exemption. Many estate planning strategies can be used to transfer wealth and take advantage of these exemptions efficiently.

In November 2023, the IRS announced increases for gift and estate tax exemptions in 2024, including an increase in the federal gift, estate, and GST (Generation Skipping Tax) exemption and the annual exclusion from gift tax. These changes became effective on January 1, 2024.

The gift and estate tax exemption has increased to $13,610,000 per individual in 2024. Married couples can transfer up to $27,220,000 since both partners may utilize the exemption. This marks a substantial increase of $690,000 per person ($1,380,000 per married couple) from the prior year.

Generally, gift and estate taxes may be due if a person’s total wealth transfer during their lifetime and at their death exceeds the gift and estate tax exemption.

The GST tax exemption increased to $13,610,000 per person in 2024. This tax may be triggered by transfers to or in trust for family members more than one generation younger than the donor. It might also be triggered by gifts to unrelated individuals who are 37.5 years younger than the donor.

The annual gift tax exclusion increased to $18,000 per donor, per gift recipient, and $36,000 per married couple splitting gifts. The annual gift tax exclusion permits individuals to make gifts to any amount of people tax-free every year without being counted against their lifetime gift and estate tax exemption.

An experienced estate planning attorney will explain the time-sensitive opportunities presented by the increases in 2024 in conjunction with the current (yet temporary) exemptions.

Now is the time to consider funding trusts with assets expected to have high growth potential, using a portion of the gift tax exemption while removing future appreciation from the estate.

Reference: mondaq (Dec. 21, 2023) “Take Advantage Of Increased Gift And Estate Tax Exclusions in 2024”

Top Tips for Estate Planning

Social media and in-person conferences are filled with “hacks” to improve lifestyles, finances and everything you can imagine. Taking a page from the world of “life hacks,” this article from Kiplinger, “14 Rapid-Fire Estate Planning Tips,” presents short and impactful info on estate planning.

Tip 1—Consider using a professional trustee in your estate plan for a more effective estate plan and more efficient administration.

Tip 2—For business owners, make sure that your estate planning attorney, CPA and financial advisors all understand your business. Invite them to your office or factory, so they can see how production or business practices are handled and the role of key employees, especially family members.

Tip 3—Discuss Transfer on Death (TOD) and Payable on Death (POD) options to see if they might be useful or detrimental to your estate plan. Many banks are pushing these arrangements, but they are not for everyone.

Tip 4—If you own a closely held company, have your estate planning attorney review any buy-sell provisions in the shareholder and operating agreements. Were these terms coordinated with the liquidity available to your trust or estate?

Tip 5—Do your trust documents include provisions regarding substance abuse powers and protections for beneficiaries? Give the trustee the power to deal with any substance abuse issues, including the power to pay costs directly to vendors and not directly to the beneficiary, require testing and treatment programs and pay for them with trust funds, and withhold mandatory distributions until the beneficiary meets certain testing and treatment standards.

Tip 6—Use an active voice in all forms, communications and agreements. Avoid ambiguity and provide clarity by using the active voice to identify the person who is or will exercise power or duty.

Tip 7—Be careful with personal information and documents. Your estate planning attorney and all other advisors should use encryption to protect emailed documents. Multifactor authentication should be used on any remote access. Don’t open attachments from anyone you don’t know or click on a link in an email from someone you think you know. Pick up the phone and call advisors before opening the email or link.

Tip 8—Ask your estate planning attorney to review the trust’s express standards of care, so you understand the duties and liabilities of the trustee. When a trust states a trust advisor is not a fiduciary and is not liable for actions taken in good faith, then any actions must be in good faith. This is a standard of care, and they are liable for actions taken in bad faith.

Tip 9—Ask your estate planning attorney about having your trust absolve successor trustees of all prior acts of the predecessor trustee. When a trustee is named successor trustee, they will look for this language absolving them of the predecessor trustee’s prior acts of omission or commission. If there’s no such provision in the document, the successor trustee will want all qualified beneficiaries to sign a release and indemnification.

Tip 10—Don’t rely on your memory regarding gift and estate tax returns filed in the past or your past use of lifetime estate tax exemptions, annual exclusion gifts, withdrawal notices and Generation-Skipping Transfer Tax (GSTT) allocations. Locate copies of these documents in your records to ensure that they match. Document your file with any notes or communications about gifting. As a taxpayer, you and your estate are responsible for maintaining records and have the burden of proof in any tax matters.

Tip 11—Anytime you review or update your estate plan, take the time to review any beneficiary designations immediately. Existing deeds, titles, account details and beneficiary designations should all be up to date, as your new estate plan may be ineffective at best (and, at worst, worthless) if those forms are not completed and updated.

Tip 12—If you are a beneficiary, you are allowed to review trust administration and ask questions of the trust officer. You are entitled to know how often you will receive statements or annual accounting, the standards the trustee must follow for making distributions and whether or not you have any control over the use of trust benefits during your lifetime or upon your death.

Tip 13—When updating your estate, ask your estate planning attorney about drafting trust restatements and new wills rather than trust amendments and codicils. Modern word processing makes it just as easy to prepare complete restatements rather than multiple amendments.

Tip 14—If you file personal tax returns and fiduciary tax returns for trusts, it may make sense to use the same accounting firm for both.

Reference: Kiplinger (Nov. 8, 2023) “14 Rapid-Fire Estate Planning Tips”

How Does an Inheritance Trust Work?

Don’t let the term “inheritance trust” intimidate you. It’s basically a way to safeguard assets, while managing their distribution efficiently. Trusts are also used to provide potential tax benefits, which can add significantly to a family’s financial security, according to a recent article from yahoo! finance, “How to Keep Money in the Family With an Inheritance Trust.” An estate planning attorney can guide you in establishing an inheritance trust, securing assets and protecting your family’s financial health.

An inheritance or a family or testamentary trust is a legal arrangement to manage and protect assets for the benefit of heirs or beneficiaries after the grantor’s passing. Its key function is to ensure an efficient and controlled distribution of assets. These can be financial, real estate, or personal property of value.

Many types of trusts offer different levels of control, tax benefits and asset protection. For instance, a revocable trust lets the person who set up the trust or the trustee maintain control over the assets while living and make changes as they want to the terms of the trust.

In an irrevocable trust, the terms can’t be changed easily, which offers greater protection against creditors or legal disputes.

There’s also something called a “Generation Skipping Trust,” designed to transfer wealth directly to outright beneficiaries, typically grandchildren, to avoid repeated estate taxes on a family’s assets.

The inheritance trust provides a strong shield of protection for assets. By placing assets in a trust, they are safeguarded from creditors, lawsuits and even certain tax liabilities. This layer of protection ensures that assets go directly to beneficiaries without the risk of erosion by unexpected challenges.

Another reason for a trust—control of the distribution of assets. You establish the specific conditions and timelines for when and how assets are to be passed on to heirs. You may want to wait until they have reached a certain age, protect against reckless spending, or have the trust used solely for the long-term care of a loved one.

Inheritance trusts are also used to minimize estate taxes. Working with an experienced estate planning attorney, you can plan for assets within the trust to potentially reduce the tax burden on your estate, allowing heirs to inherit more of the family’s earned wealth.

Trusts provide privacy. Unlike wills, trusts don’t become public documents. Trusts bypass the probate process, which can become a protracted and expensive public court proceeding. By placing assets in trust, the transfer of wealth is prompt and confidential.

For blended families or those with complex dynamics, inheritance trusts can help prevent disputes and ensure that assets are distributed according to your specific directions. For instance, if you want to leave assets to your children but protect them from their spouses in case of divorce, a trust can be created to address this issue. You might also wish your wealth to be distributed directly to grandchildren, not a son or daughter-in-law.

Start by working with an experienced estate planning attorney to create a comprehensive estate plan. This includes drafting a will, establishing trusts and assigning beneficiaries. Communicate with heirs, so they understand your intentions and expectations. Regularly review and update your plan every three to five years to be sure that it remains current and aligned with your goals.

Reference: yahoo! finance (Oct. 3, 2023) “How to Keep Money in the Family With an Inheritance Trust”

How to Transfer Business to the Next Generation

The reality and finality of death is uncomfortable to think about. However, people need to plan for death, unless they want to leave their families a mess instead of a blessing. In a family-owned business, this is especially vital, according to a recent article, “All in the Family—Transition Strategies for Family Businesses” from Bloomberg Law.

The family business is often the family’s largest financial asset. The business owner typically doesn’t have much liquidity outside of the business itself. Federal estate taxes upon death need special consideration. Every person has an estate, gift, and generation-skipping transfer tax exemption of $12.06 million, although these historically high levels may revert to prior levels in 2026. The amount exceeding the exemption may be taxed at 40%, making planning critical.

Assuming an estate tax liability is created upon the death of the business owner, how will the family pay the tax? If the spouse survives the business owner, they can use the unlimited marital deduction to defer federal estate tax liabilities, until the survivor dies. If no advance planning has been done prior to the death of the first spouse to die, it would be wise to address it while the surviving spouse is still living.

Certain provisions in the tax code may mitigate or prevent the need to sell the business to raise funds to pay the estate tax. One law allows the executor to pay part or all of the estate tax due over 15 years (Section 6166), provided certain conditions are met. This may be appropriate. However, it is a weighty burden for an extended period of time. Planning in advance would be better.

Business owners with a charitable inclination could use charitable trusts or entities as part of a tax-efficient business transition plan. This includes the Charitable Remainder Trust, or CRT. If the business owner transfers equity interest in the business to a CRT before a liquidity event, no capital gains would be generated on the sale of the business, since the CRT is generally exempt from federal income tax. Income from the sale would be deferred and recognized, since the CRT made distributions to the business owner according to the terms of the trust.

At the end of the term, the CRT’s remaining assets would pass to the selected charitable remainderman, which might be a family-established and managed private foundation.

Family businesses usually appreciate over time, so owners need to plan to shift equity out of the taxable estate. One option is to use a combination of gifting and selling business interests to an intentionally defective grantor trust. Any appreciation after the date of transfer may be excluded from the taxable estate upon death for purposes of determining federal estate tax liabilities.

For some business owners, establishing their business as a family limited partnership or limited liability company makes the most sense. Over time, they may sell or gift part of the interest to the next generation, subject to the discounts available for a transfer. An appraiser will need to be hired to issue a valuation report on the transferred interests in order to claim any possible discounts after recapitalizing the ownership interest.

The ultimate disposition of the family business is one of the biggest decisions a business owner must make, and there’s only one chance to get it right. Consult with an experienced estate planning attorney and don’t procrastinate. Succession planning takes time, so the sooner the process begins, the better.

Reference: Bloomberg Law (Nov. 9, 2022) “All in the Family—Transition Strategies for Family Businesses”

What Is the Point of a Trust?

A trust is an agreement made when a person, referred to as the trustor or grantor, gives a third party, known as the trustee, the authority to hold assets for the trust beneficiaries. The trustee is in charge of the trust and responsible for executing the trust’s instructions as per the language in the trust, explains a recent article from The Skim, “What is a Trust? (Spoiler: They’re Not Just for the Wealthy).”

Some examples of how trusts are used: if the grantor doesn’t want beneficiaries to have access to funds until they reach a certain age, the trustee will not distribute anything until the age as directed by the trust. The funds could also be solely used for the beneficiaries’ health care needs or education or whatever expense the grantor has named, the trustee decides when the funds should be released.

Trusts are not one-size-fits-all. There are many to choose from. For instance, if you wanted the bulk of your assets to go to your grandchildren, you might use a Generation-Skipping Trust. If you think your home’s value may skyrocket after you die, you might want to consider a Qualified Personal Residence Trust (QPRT) to reduce taxes.

Trusts fall into a few categories:

Testamentary Trust vs. Living Trust

A testamentary trust is known as a “trust under will” and is created based on provisions in the will after the grantor dies. A testamentary trust fund can be used to make gifts to charities or provide lifetime income for loved ones.

In most cases, trusts don’t have to go through the probate process, that is, being validated by the court before beneficiaries can receive their inheritance. However, because the testamentary trust is tied to the will, it is subject to probate. Your heirs may have to wait until the probate process is completed to receive their inheritance. This varies by state, so ask an estate planning attorney in your state.

Living trusts are created while you are living and are also known as revocable trusts. As the grantor, you may make as many changes as you like to the trust terms while living. Once you die, the trust becomes an irrevocable trust and the terms cannot be changed. There’s no need for the trust to go through probate and beneficiaries receive inheritances as per the directions in the trust.

What are the key benefits of creating a trust? A trust doesn’t always need to go through probate and gives you greater control over the assets. If you create an irrevocable trust and fund it while living, your assets are removed from your probate estate, which means whatever assets are moved into the trust are not subject to estate taxes.

Are there any reasons not to create a trust? There are costs associated with creating a trust. The trust must also be funded, meaning ownership documents like titles for a car or deeds for a house have to be revised to place the asset under the control of the trust. The same is true for stocks, bank accounts and any other asset used to fund the trust.

For gaining more control over your assets, minimizing estate taxes and making life easier for those you love after you pass, trusts are a valuable tool. Speak with your estate planning attorney to find out which trust works best for your situation. Your estate plan and any trusts should complement each other.

Reference: The Skim (Oct. 26, 2022) “What is a Trust? (Spoiler: They’re Not Just for the Wealthy)”

How Can I Choose an Estate Planning Lawyer?

Only about a third of Americans have an estate plan, according to the article “Choosing an estate planning lawyer” from Senior Matters. The number of people with wills is decreasing, rather than increasing, despite the events of recent years. Estate planning is worth doing, for the peace of mind, the personal and financial protection it provides, not to mention leaving a legacy of caring about the future for the next generation.

Estate planning involves making end-of-life decisions, with an emphasis on both finances and health. Most people think of estate planning as “who gets what,” which is accomplished largely through wills and trusts. For people who have amassed significant assets, this can be complex. An estate planning attorney makes it streamlined and will explain the implications of all aspects of the estate plan.

Estate planning includes gifting, generation skipping transfers, taxes, advance directives, power of attorney, health care proxies, living wills, naming an executor, organ donations, burial preferences, Do Not Resuscitate (DNR) orders and final wishes.

Estate planning is a highly personal process. This is why it’s important to find an estate planning attorney who is compassionate, as well as technically proficient. Estate planning attorneys tend to be caring individuals who chose this field of law because they sincerely wish to help others. They also know what happens when estate planning is not done, because they also help children when their parents fail to do estate planning.

Some people are reluctant to embark on estate planning, in part because they don’t wish to be reminded of their own mortality. Others are concerned about relatives with designs on their estate. However, not having an estate plan makes it more likely that relatives or others could challenge the estate and end up owning assets. An estate plan provides protection.

When a person dies without an estate plan and assets subject to probate, their estate is considered to be “intestate.” Only the court will have any control over how the probate assets are distributed. The probate court will simply follow the laws of your state, which frequently are based on kinship. The exact details vary from state to state, and this is known as “intestate succession.”

The intestate laws may result in outcomes completely different than what you wished. An estranged spouse could end up owning everything, or a child with substance issues could inherit a substantial sum which will be gone in months. In most states, minor children may not receive inheritances, so trusts or custodial accounts are needed.

Estate planning is just as important for people of modest means as it is for wealthy people. If a senior owns their own home, the increase in property values could mean their estate is much bigger than they even realize.

Choosing an estate planning lawyer isn’t difficult. Ask friends and family for referrals, visit websites and find an estate planning attorney who shares your values, understands your family and feels like a good fit. Once your estate plan is in place, you’ll gain peace of mind.

Reference: Senior Matters (Aug. 17, 2022) “Choosing an estate planning lawyer”

Can Trusts Help Create Wealth?

Trusts are the Swiss Army Knife of estate planning, perfect tools for specific directions on how your assets should be managed while you are living and after you have passed. A recent article titled “This Trust Can Help You Create a Financial Dynasty” from yahoo! finance explains how qualified perpetual trusts (also known as dynasty trusts) can offer more control over assets than other types of trusts.

What is a Dynasty Trust?

Called a Qualified Perpetual Trust or a Dynasty Trust, this trust is designed to let the grantor pass assets along to beneficiaries in perpetuity. Technically speaking, a dynasty trust could last for a century. They don’t end until several years after the death of the last surviving beneficiary.

Why Would You Want a Trust to Last 100 Years?

Perpetual trusts are often used to keep family wealth out of probate for a long time. During probate, the court reviews the will, approves the executor and reviews an inventory of assets. Probate can be time consuming and costly. the will and all the information it contains becomes part of the public record, meaning that anyone can find out all about your wealth.

A trust is created by an experienced estate planning attorney. Assets are then transferred into the trust and beneficiaries are named. There should be at least one beneficiary and a secondary beneficiary, in case the first beneficiary predeceases the second. A trustee is named to oversee the assets. The language of the trust is where you set the terms for when and how assets are to be distributed to beneficiaries.

Directions for the trust can be as specific as you wish. Terms may be set requiring certain goals, stages of life, or ages for beneficiaries to receive assets. This amount of control is part of the appeal of trusts. You can also set terms for when beneficiaries are not to receive anything from the trust.

Let’s say you have two adult children in their 30s. You could set a condition for them to receive monthly payments from trust earnings and nothing from the principal during their lifetimes. The next generation, your grandchildren, can be directed to receive only earnings as well, further preserving the trust principal and ensuring its future for generations to come.

Dynasty trusts are irrevocable, meaning that once assets are transferred, the transfer is permanent. Be certain that any assets going into the trust won’t be needed in the short or long run.

Be mindful if you chose to leave assets directly to grandchildren, skipping one generation, you risk the Generation Skipping Tax. There is no GST with a dynasty trust.

Assets in a trust are still subject to income tax, if they generate income. If you transfer assets creating little or no income, you can minimize this tax.

Not all states allow qualified perpetual trusts, while other states have used perpetual trusts to create a cottage industry for trusts. Your estate planning attorney will be able to advise the best perpetual trust for your situation.

Reference: yahoo! finance (July 12, 2022) “This Trust Can Help You Create a Financial Dynasty”