Latest Post: Curbing the Spousal Election: A Look at Marriages Based on Fraud or Undue Influence

Elder financial abuse is rampant.  The U.S. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau reports that $1.7 billion of suspicious financial activity involving seniors was flagged by U.S. financial institutions in 2017.  This, of course, is the tip of the iceberg and only reflects institutions that are required to report.  Much elder financial abuse goes unreported, especially abuse […]

The General Assembly has unanimously passed a Bill, signed by Governor Hogan, that makes sweeping changes to the elective share provisions of Maryland law.  The new law becomes effective October 1, 2020. The Current Statute Currently, the elective share statute, by its terms, applies only to probate estates.  It entitles a surviving spouse to elect […]

Two recent cases have examined how much “presence” in a state will permit that state to tax a trust’s undistributed income.  Generally, the trust’s principal place of administration is the place that subjects the trust to state income tax.  Delaware, for example, does not tax trust income or capital gains, so it is a popular […]

Maryland made the not-coveted Forbes list of places “where not to die in 2019.”  To compound the insult, Forbes singled out Maryland as the worst-of-the-worst:  “Of the 17 states and the District of Columbia that levy an estate tax or inheritance tax, Maryland is the sole jurisdiction with both levies.” However, each Maryland estate planning […]

The Court of Special Appeals determined that the State of Maryland cannot tax the value of a marital trust established under a will by a predeceased spouse, who was not a resident of Maryland and not, at the time of his death, subject to the Maryland estate tax. Comptroller v. Taylor, ___ Md.App. ____, 2018 […]

In mid-December of last year, the federal “Tax Cuts and Jobs Act” passed by a simple majority vote.  In order to make the deficit numbers pass the “Byrd Rule” test, most of the individual and estate tax provisions “sunset” after 2025.  Generally, business tax changes are permanent (to the degree any policy is permanent). The […]

Many see the law of estates and trusts as a sleepy and perhaps polite backwater in the otherwise contentious practice of law. Not so declares the U.S. Supreme Court: “All good trust – and – estate lawyers know that ‘[d]eath is not the end; there remains the litigation over the estate.’” (Ambrose Bierce (1911)). The […]

The Court of Appeals recently upheld the Circuit Court for Anne Arundel County (Judge Dennis Sweeney specially assigned) which granted summary judgment in a caveat case.   (Castruccio v. Est. of Castruccio, ____ A.3d _____ (August 2017).   [Full disclosure:   we briefed and participated in oral argument for one of the winning appellees and, […]

By Fred Franke Franke, Sessions & Beckett LLC Two provisions of the Maryland Trust Act (MTA) offer a terrific planning opportunity for clients.   MTA § 14.5-504 codifies the spendthrift clause which existed under common law.   It robustly shields trust assets created by third parties from most (but not all) of a beneficiary’s creditors. […]

By Fred Franke Franke, Sessions & Beckett LLC The latest word from the appellate courts defining familial relationships is the Court of Special Appeals which revisited the issue of de facto parent status in In Re:   J.M., Jr., 2017 WL 3141086 (7/25/17, unreported).   Last year, the Court of Appeals recognized de facto parenthood […]

By Fred Franke Franke, Sessions & Beckett LLC The Court of Special Appeals has delivered a useful reminder that the procedural rules governing appeals from the Orphans’ Court are unique and dissimilar to those governing Circuit Court actions. This is particularly true when determining whether an order is final for the purposes of an appeal […]

By Fred Franke Franke, Sessions & Beckett LLC In probably the last decision before the “new” Maryland Trust Act fully kicked in, the Court of Appeals addressed how courts traditionally determined settlor’s intent under the Maryland common law. Vito v. Grueff, No. 75, September Term, 2016 (filed May 22, 2017). Although the Vito court seemed […]