Structuring Trust Protector Provisions: Protectors' Powers & Duties, Trustee Oversight, Tax and Fiduciary Risks
Avoiding Unintentional Fiduciary Classification, Key Trust Provisions to Limit Disputes, Navigating State Differences
Note: CPE credit is not offered on this program
Recording of a 90-minute CLE webinar with Q&A
This CLE course will provide estate planning counsel and advisers with a practical guide to structuring trust protector and directing party provisions into a trust or estate plan. The panel will discuss the specific duties to assign to trust protectors, and potential risks to both the trustor and the protector, as well as detail jurisdictional challenges in determining when to use a trust protector.
Outline
- Trust protector powers related to oversight of a trustee
- Powers that may be granted to trust protectors related to operation or modification of trust terms
- Determining whether a trust protector is a fiduciary
- Trust protector powers that may cause gift or income tax inclusion or loss of GST exemption
- Drafting effective trust protector provisions to avoid disputes
Benefits
The panel will review these and other relevant topics:
- Uniform Trust Code's position that a trust protector is a fiduciary unless the trust document specifies differently
- The Uniform Directed Trust Act’s position that a trust protector is subject to the same fiduciary duty as a trustee in the same position
- What trust protector duties or actions can result in gift or income tax consequences?
- What are the risks of using trust protectors to either the trust or the beneficiaries?
- What powers may a trust document grant a trust protector, both in terms of overseeing the trustee's actions and modifying the terms of the trust?
- Best practices and key trust provisions to avoid unintended consequences
Faculty
William (Bill) Kalish
Partner
Johnson Pope Bokor Ruppel & Burns
Mr. Kalish focuses his practice on representing individuals and businesses on a broad range of tax and business related... | Read More
Mr. Kalish focuses his practice on representing individuals and businesses on a broad range of tax and business related issues. He counsels clients on estate planning, creating wills, revocable trusts, irrevocable trusts, charitable trusts, private foundations, and limited partnerships. He also practices in probate administration, asset preservation, business succession planning for family-owned entities, and the division of business interests in the context of divorce. He has over 30 years of experience in the areas of tax and professional ethics.
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Melissa Langa
Atty
Bove & Langa
Ms. Langa has built a dynamic practice guiding individuals, families, businesses, and charitable organizations in... | Read More
Ms. Langa has built a dynamic practice guiding individuals, families, businesses, and charitable organizations in designing and implementing customized tax-efficient structures to meet their particular estate planning, asset protection planning, business, and charitable needs. As part of her practice, she has assisted business owners who wish to pass a business to certain children while treating their other children fairly, has helped surviving family members navigate the legal and tax implications of a loved one’s death while preserving family harmony, has drafted customized shared use agreements for vacation homes enjoyed by multiple generations, has prepared complex trusts to provide for family members with special needs, has assisted international families navigate the US tax system, has counseled clients in marital planning with prenuptial and postnuptial agreements, and has designed complex gifting structures to meet specific family and philanthropic goals. Ms. Langa’s practice encompasses not only that of a trusts and estates advisor, but also as a family advisor and sounding board for all matters legal which a family faces in the 21st century. She serves as a trustee and personal representative when asked to do so by her clients.
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Elizabeth T. Meck
Vice President, Senior Trust Advisor
Northern Trust
As a member of the Trust Advisory team, Ms. Meck provides fiduciary and legal expertise in the implementation of... | Read More
As a member of the Trust Advisory team, Ms. Meck provides fiduciary and legal expertise in the implementation of financial, estate and tax plans for high net-worth individuals, entrepreneurs, and families. Before joining Northern Trust, she practiced as an attorney, specializing in all areas of estate and wealth transfer planning, fiduciary advising, trust and estate administration, and probate litigation. Most recently, she was a member of the Fiduciary Solutions group at Holland & Hart LLP in Denver.
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Susan J. Merritt
Senior Vice President and Chief Fiduciary Officer, Wealth Management
Northern Trust
Ms. Merritt is responsible for overseeing all aspects of the Orange County region’s fiduciary practice including... | Read More
Ms. Merritt is responsible for overseeing all aspects of the Orange County region’s fiduciary practice including oversight of all trust relationships, management and mitigation of fiduciary risk, review of all new trust business, and oversight of all court related matters including administrative petitions and fiduciary litigation. She also works with select Wealth Management clients and their advisors to develop integrated tax and estate plans based wealth management strategies. Prior to joining Northern Trust, she was a practicing attorney with a large business law firm and focused on domestic and offshore tax and estate planning for high net worth individuals.
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