Estate Planning Newsletter

• Receipt of Assets in a Totten Trust upon the Owner's Death
  A decedent’s assets may be transferred upon their death to their heirs or other beneficiaries through probate. “Probate” is the legal process by which a court determines who receives a decedent’s assets under... Read more.
• Inheritance Rights of Spouses after Separation and Divorce
  Most people are aware that a surviving spouse is usually entitled to inherit all or a large portion of the estate of a deceased spouse. Fewer understand the effect on estates if one spouse dies during a legal separation or after a... Read more.
• The Unexpected Consequences of Creating Your Own Estate Planning Document
  Estate planning attorneys utilize a number of different estate planning techniques to accomplish the goals of their clients and sometimes to minimize transfer taxes. One common estate planning technique is the transfer of assets into an... Read more.
• Valuation of Contaminated Property
  The Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act of 1980 (CERCLA) imposes liability for the investigation and cleanup of contaminated real property without regard to whether the landowner created or allowed the... Read more.

• Breast Cancer: Financial And Estate Planning Check-Up
• Do You Have a Digital ‘Guardian’ for Your Estate?
• IRA trusts could become an estate planning disaster
• Providing for possessions – and pets – in estate planning
• Does Your Estate Plan Fall Prey To 3 Big Tax Issues?

Correcting Mistakes in Trust Distribution

There may be instances where property under a trust is transferred to the wrong beneficiary. This transfer can be corrected through a remedy called a resulting trust or an implied trust. Do not confuse a resulting trust, which is created by the court to remedy some error, from an express trust, which is a trust expressly created by a person (the trustor or settlor) who designates a trustee to manage assets or property for the benefit of trust beneficiaries.

When a Resulting Trust Is Imposed

A resulting trust is typically imposed by a court, and may occur under any of the following situations:

• Failure of an express trust (due to unclear intentions or inherent illegality)
• A need to determine who is to receive property that remains after an express trust has been administered and property has been distributed
• A person acquires property that was not meant to be a gift to him/her

Distinguishing Characteristics

Resulting trusts are different from other trusts, in that they are:

• Involuntary – Imposed by law, rather than being voluntarily created.
• Not a Constructive Trust – Imposed because of a good faith error, instead of the fraudulent transfer or undue influence that characterizes constructive trusts.

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