Effective January 1, 2009, Arizona adopted a new Trust Code that contains provisions requiring trustees of irrevocable trusts to notify beneficiaries from time to time about the trust.  Although this 2007 article called “The Trustee's Duty to Inform” has not been updated and not not address Arizona's new Trust Code, it is a good summary of this sometimes troublesome, but important and developing area of trust law.

This Article examines an aspect of trust fiduciary law historically ignored in the law reviews 1: the trustee's duty to provide information to the trust's beneficiaries about the trust and its administration.

Too many people put money in their IRA or retirement plan and then forget about it.  There are important planning steps that you can take that can be beneficial to you and to your heirs.  This article summarizes various IRA and retirement plan planning opportunities.

The bottom line, review and monitor your retirement planning assets with your investment adviser, accountant, pension consultant, and estate planner on a regular basis to maximize the benefits for both you and your heirs.

As an estate planning attorney, I have seen too many situations where after the parents' deaths, the children go to war over the family's vacation home.  If the parents do not create a good post-death master plan for the property, it's almost guaranteed that the kids will disagree over: (i) whether to keep or sell the property, (ii) to improve it or keep the worn-out 1970s furniture, (iii) who is going to pay the real property taxes, insurance, utilities and upkeep costs, (iv) usage (some will use it more than others), and (v) many other items too numerous to mention.

These types of problems can be resolved if the parents do their homework and adopt a plan that anticipates and avoids potential problems and has a mechanism for resolving disputes.  Attorney Wendy S. Goffe has written an excellent and very detailed three part article on this subject called “From NASCAR Condominiums to Private Mausoleums:  Keeping the Vacation Home in the Family.”

Few families successfully transfer ownership of a cabin or vacation property by accident. Families that do accomplish this Herculean feat do so only with a great deal of advanced multi-generational planning, often with mechanisms to adjust the plan as circumstances and needs change. . . .

The legal mechanism for transferring the property is only the first of many challenges. Following the transfer, the next generation must determine how to maintain the property; how to pay taxes, insurance, and maintenance; and how to divide its use among the family members. The transfer itself […]

Attorney Sarah M. Johnson wrote an informative article about what parent(s) should consider before selecting one or more guardians to raise their minor children if the parent(s) were to die or become incapacitated.

In an article about the importance of irrevocable trusts, Attorney Bob Moshman says, “The million-dollar estate is under attack.  The irrevocable living trust, without any bells or whistles, remains a potent and effective strategy.”

The American Bar Association has an excellent booklet called “Making Medical Decision for Someone Else:  How to Guide.”  It is produced by the ABA's Commission on Law and Aging.   If you make health care decisions for someone else—or might at some future point—this handbook is for you.

New York Times:  This article on the importance of estate planning starts with  ” not discussing something that is going to happen will not stop it from happening.  And at some point, someone is going to have to sort out your estate — regardless of how big or small it is.”  The article then summarizes key estate planning issues that should be addressed.

Forbes.com has an interesting article on the importance of estate planning.  The money line is

It's not just for the wealthy, and it's more than a will. There's your medical care, insurance and kids to consider.

England's Prince Harry will soon be 25 at which time he will inherit £6.5 million from his mother Diana's estate.  The value of her estate after her death in 1997 was £21 million, but the estate paid more than £8 million in inheritance taxes.

When a married couple creates an estate plan, they plan for the inevitable – the death of one spouse followed by the death of the second spouse.  The entire estate plan may be designed on this assumption.  However, it is possible that both spouses could die simultaneously in a common accident.  Santa Barbara, California attorney Mark Cornwall discusses the need to plan for simultaneous deaths.  “Spelling out your wishes in a revocable trust can prevent unintended distribution of property.”

Forbes.com has a concise pictorial essay called “In Pictures: 10 Estate Planning Moves To Make Now.”

The Dayton Daily News has a story entitled “Medical mistrust dissuades people from being organ donors.”  The most common reasons people decline to donate are:

• Desire that their body remain intact after death,
• Fear that medical personnel might withhold care from identified organ donors, and
• Religious objections.

Celebrity gossip website tmz.com says it accessed documents that show that Michael “Jackson's net worth was estimated at $1,360,839,979 on July 31, 2007,” but he ‘only' had liquid assets of $668,215 (.05% of his net worth).  TMZ claims Jackson's primary asset was his interest in the Sony-ATV Publishing Trust (including the Beatles music) valued at $1,150,000,000.

As an estate planning attorney, I am always amazed by the things people do or fail to do when it comes to death, property, inheritance and leaving property to their loved ones.  CNN.com has an interesting story on wills entitled “Dogs, Ferrari, strangers — weird stipulations.”  The story summarizes a number of bizarre wills.

Nevada recently adopted a new law that authorizes wills to be stored electronically.  The Nevada Secretary of State will create and maintain a secure on-line registry called the “Nevada Lockbox” where people can upload an electronic copy of their will and retrieve it when needed.  See 2009 Nevada Laws Ch. 253.

This is a great idea that all states should adopt.  A common problem after a death is that the family cannot find the deceased's will.  Sometimes the family does not know if the deceased had a will and sometimes the family knows the deceased signed a will, but they cannot find the original or even a copy of the will.  Another common problem is that a stepmother or stepfather refuses to open a probate or give a copy of the will to a stepchild.

A reader asks Wall St. Journal writer Kelly Green the following:

My wife and I are both over 65 and are doing some estate planning. Can I transfer funds from a traditional IRA to a trust without immediately being taxed? What would be the tax consequences of making the trust the beneficiary of my IRA?

The answer discusses an estate planning device I call an “IRA Inheritance Trust®.”  See my article on this subject called “How Your Family Can Become IRA Millionaires Using an IRA Inheritance Trust® that Protects the Funds from Ex-Spouses, Creditors & Bankruptcy Court.

Wall St. Journal:  ‘Intentionally Defective' Tool Can Protect Depressed Assets From Estate and Gift Taxes.  It may seem hard to come up with a financial product with a name as unattractive as an “intentionally defective grantor trust.” Yet these days, in the world of estate planning, those words denote one sexy vehicle.”  These types of trusts are also called “IDGTs.”