DESCRIPTION
The Art and Science of Conditional Gifts in Estate Planning
In formulating their trust and estate plans, clients often want to set up benchmarks of achievement before distributions or gifts are made. These benchmarks often involve educational attainment – i.e., that a child obtain a college degree by a certain. But they may involve more difficult to measure benchmarks or life goals that are arguably not appropriate – i.e., that a child marry or have children of their own by a certain age. Conditional gifts can easily lead to resentments among beneficiaries, questionable enforceability, disputes, and fiduciary litigation. This program will provide you with a practical guide to conditional gifting using incentive trusts and other mechanisms, and counseling clients about the real limits and risks of conditional gifting.
- Conditional gifting using incentive trusts and other mechanisms
- Establishing objectively measurable conditions for gifts or distributions
- Types of conditions or benchmarks – education, life goals, etc.
- What’s enforceable, what’s not – counseling clients about limits
- Choosing the right fiduciaries to administer conditional gifts/incentive trusts
Speaker:
Missia H. Vaselaney is a partner in the Cleveland office of Taft, Stettinius & Hollister, LLP, where her practice focuses on estate planning for individuals and businesses. She also represents clients before federal and state taxing authorities. Ms. Vaselaney is a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants and has been a member of the Steering Committee for AICPA’s National Advanced Estate Planning Conference since 2001. Ms. Vaselaney received her B.A. from the University of Dayton and her J.D. from the Cleveland-Marshall College of Law.
Disclaimer: All views or opinions expressed by any presenter during the course of this CLE is that of the presenter alone and not an opinion of the Oklahoma Bar Association, the employers, or affiliates of the presenters unless specifically stated. Additionally, any materials, including the legal research, are the product of the individual contributor, not the Oklahoma Bar Association. The Oklahoma Bar Association makes no warranty, express or implied, relating to the accuracy or content of these materials.