Modifying Irrevocable Trusts: Changing the Unchangeable?
Navigating Modification Methods, Governing Law, Consent Requirements, and Tax Considerations
Recording of a 90-minute CLE webinar with Q&A
This CLE course will provide estate planning counsel with practical techniques to modify an irrevocable trust. The panel will describe the various modification methods, including decanting, construction, reformation, division and amendment. The program will also address potential state law issues and will detail key tax considerations in light of the recent tax overhaul bill.
Outline
- Modification methods
- Judicial reformation
- Non-judicial reformation
- Division
- Amendment
- Decanting
- Other
- Identifying governing law
- Recent Delaware developments expanding modification opportunities
- Identification of necessary parties
- Representation of parties
- Impact of tax reform law on modification of irrevocable trusts
Benefits
The panel will review these and other key issues:
- What methods are available to modify an irrevocable trust?
- Which state law will govern a trust modification?
- How will the governing state law apply to the validity, construction or administration of the trust?
- Who must be notified and give consent before a trust can be modified?
- What tax consequences should counsel consider when modifying an irrevocable trust?
Faculty
Lauren Evans DeJong
Of Counsel
Stahl Cowen Crowley Addis
Ms. DeJong counsels individuals with regard to estate planning, estate and trust administration, asset protection... | Read More
Ms. DeJong counsels individuals with regard to estate planning, estate and trust administration, asset protection and tax and business planning. She works with individuals and their families in areas related to transferring and preserving wealth, business succession, planning for disability, special needs and health care coverage. She also represents clients in connection with probate, trust and guardianship proceedings and before the U.S. Tax Court with regard to federal tax matters. In the corporate arena, she counsels closely held businesses and start-ups in the areas of entity formation, organizational and strategic planning, and contract drafting.
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Jaclyn G. Feffer
Principal, Fiduciary Counsel
Bessemer Trust
Ms. Feffer assists high net worth individuals and families in developing and implementing generational wealth transfer... | Read More
Ms. Feffer assists high net worth individuals and families in developing and implementing generational wealth transfer planning strategies. She has extensive experience in estate and gift tax matters, family succession planning, and charitable planning. Prior to joining Bessemer in 2013, Ms. Feffer was an attorney at Fulbright & Jaworski, LLP, practicing in its Trusts and Estates department. She is a member of the Real Property, Trust and Estate Law Section of the American Bar Association, the Trusts and Estates Law Section of the New York State Bar Association, and the Association of the Bar of the City of New York.
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Meryl G. Finkelstein
Partner
Brick & Patel
Ms. Finkelstein counsels clients on a wide variety of complex estate planning, business succession and wealth transfer... | Read More
Ms. Finkelstein counsels clients on a wide variety of complex estate planning, business succession and wealth transfer issues and also has extensive experience in the administration of trusts and estates and the handling of estate and gift tax matters, including IRS audits and proceedings before the United States Tax Court. As a member of the Estate and Gift Taxation Committee of the Association of the Bar of the City of New York, she served on a subcommittee that drafted the initial version of the revised New York decanting legislation that was enacted in August, 2011, and is a frequent speaker on the subject of trust decanting.
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