Nearly everybody is out of 2012 capacity at this point. So…
- Consider setting up a simple one-page gift trust with just the essential terms so you have a valid trust under the state law you are selecting.
- Give the settlor’s best friend as Trust Protector the power to completely amend and restate the trust (maybe for a selected period of time like three months) in that Trust Protector’s sole and absolute discretion (and obviously draft around a GPOA).
- Get it fully executed and funded with the $5MM gift before year-end.
- Enjoy the New Year’s. Take a deep breath.
- Reconvene in 2013 and have the Trust Protector restate the trust with regular provisions. The settlor can make recommendations, but it clearly must be done in the sole and absolute discretion of the Trust Protector to avoid IRC 2038.
- Charge the client a premium for doing this so late in the game. You’re entitled to it.
Steven J. Oshins, Esq., AEP (Distinguished) is a member of the Law Offices of Oshins & Associates, LLC in Las Vegas, Nevada. Steve is a nationally known attorney who is listed in The Best Lawyers in America® and has been named one of the Top 100 Attorneys in Worth magazine. He was inducted into the NAEPC Estate Planning Hall of Fame® in 2011. He has written some of Nevada’s most important estate planning and creditor protection laws, including the law making the charging order the exclusive remedy of a judgment creditor of a Nevada LLC and LP (in 2001, 2003 and 2011), the law changing the Nevada rule against perpetuities to 365 years (in 2005) and the law making Nevada the first and only state to allow a Restricted LLC and a Restricted LP creating larger valuation discounts than any other state allows (in 2009). He is also the author of the Annual Domestic Asset Protection Rankings which you can download from our Free Resources page. Steve can be reached at 702-341-6000, x2 or at soshins@oshins.com. His law firm’s web site is http://www.oshins.com.