Taxation & Estate Planning

Trust-Administration Agreements

By Joel A. Schoenmeyer

Setting up a trust can be a pretty effective way of avoiding expensive and public court proceedings (which are necessary in a probate situation). But sometimes problems arise with a trust, problems where a court proceeding may be needed. Settlements are always a possibility, but there's been some confusion in the past about how you work out a settlement, especially when not all parties are of age (or even born).

Due to an amendment to the Illinois Trusts and Trustees Act, there may be a new solution. Lyman Welch and Susan Bart describe the amendment in this Illinois Bar Journal article (it's from November of '09, but I just read it, so it's new to me!). The amendment adds section (d) to 760 ILCS 5/16.1. Some situations in which you may be able to use 16.1(d) to enter into a "nonjudicial settlement agreement":

-interpretation or construction of trust terms;
-resignation or appointment of a trustee; and
-exercise or nonexercise of a power by the trustee.

There are other situations outlined in the article, which I highly recommend.

Full post as published by Death and Taxes Blog on January 19, 2010 (boomark / email).