Latest Post: Curbing Tax Over-Reach: Maryland Cannot Impose Death Taxes on Out-of-State Marital Trusts

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 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.   The […]

By Fred Franke Franke 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 to grant […]

By Fred Franke Franke 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 and who […]

By Fred Franke Franke 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 to rely […]

By Fred Franke Franke Beckett LLC As anticipated, a relatively new federal estate tax benefit has generated litigation among family members in the state courts. The “portability” election that permits a surviving spouse to carry forward the deceased spouse’s unused federal estate tax exclusion amount is a powerful tool for married couples with federal estate […]

By Fred Franke Franke Beckett LLC A recent Court of Special Appeals case, Shump v. Wannall, 2016 W.L. 588, 572-9 (10/4/16)(unreported), addressed whether a pour-over will is effective if the inter vivos trust comes into existence several weeks after the will is executed. The answer is no. Maryland Estates & Trusts Art. § 4-411 provides […]

ANTI-LAPSE MEANS ANTI-LAPSE By Fred Franke Franke Beckett LLC A recent Court of Special Appeals case held that the anti-lapse statute means what it says.   The case was not reported, perhaps because it broke no new ground.

POST-MORTEM DIVORCE IN MARYLAND By Fred Franke Franke Beckett LLC Recently the Court of Special Appeals held that the personal representative could not bring suit to annul the decedent’s marriage based on fraud.   Morris v. Goodwin, ___ Md.App. ___, 2016 W.L. 6248538 (10/26/16). In Morris, the allegation was that a U.S. Army staff sergeant […]

By Fred Franke, Franke Beckett LLC The Court of Appeals decided a child custody case arising out of a divorce action that will have reverberations in the law of estates and trusts. In Conover v. Conover, 2016 W.L. 3633062 (July 7, 2016), the Court of Appeals held that Maryland recognizes de facto parenthood. In doing […]

A core element of Maryland asset protection planning for married couples is holding the property as tenants by the entirety. A judgment against either the husband or the wife does not attach to the judgment debtor’s interest in entirety property. Hertz v. Mills, 166 Md. 492 (1934). A principal aspect of tenants by the entirety […]