Decanting a Trust

People who can afford to retire are the lucky few, but there are clear signs if you are one of them. For example, if you have ever decanted anything, and known that this was what you were doing, you have probably accumulated enough wealth to have access to the finer things in life. Decanting is simply the process of pouring a liquid from one vessel to another, but not just any liquid. Pouring store brand soda into a Dixie cup is not decanting, because at the end of the process, the liquid in both vessels is the same. It is only decanting if you are pouring liquid from a vessel where sediments have accumulated at the bottom, so the liquid in the new vessel is pure. For example, winemakers decant wine into bottles for sale, pouring the wine from a jug into the bottles until only the dregs remain in the jug. This is why vessels for serving wine at the dinner table are called decanters, because this was their original purpose. Perfume making also involves decanting, but if you know that, you are either wealthy enough to buy lots of perfume or perfume ingredients, frugal enough to spend your time reading Wikipedia articles about perfume making, or both. As every estate planning lawyer will tell you, trusts are not just for rich people, and you don’t have to be rich to decant a trust. If you are the grantor or trustee of an irrevocable trust that has outlived its usefulness, contact a Bronx estate planning lawyer.

Wine Gets Better With Age, but Sometimes Trusts Do Not

You can’t amend an irrevocable trust, like you can with a revocable trust. The best you can do is establish a new trust with a new trust instrument and then move the property from the old trust into the new trust, where the new trust instrument will govern it. In legal terms, this is called decanting a trust. This is not the only time where estate law uses the language of pouring liquids. When a testator names an irrevocable trust that will go into effect when the estate settles as the sole beneficiary of the will, this is called a pour-over will.

Decanting a Trust Is Delicate Business

Much like decanting fine wine, decanting a trust takes more skill than simply pouring orange soda from ShopRite into a plastic cup. There are rules about how different the new trust instrument can be from the old one. Interested parties can file legal challenges to your decision to decant the trust. The best way to ensure that you are within your rights to decant the trust and that you are doing so in a way that respects the rights of the beneficiaries is to hire an estate planning lawyer to manage the decanting process for you.

Schedule a Confidential Consultation With a Bronx Estate Planning Attorney

An estate property lawyer can help you decant an irrevocable trust so that you can serve the beneficiaries’ interests more effectively.  Contact Cavallo & Cavallo in the Bronx, New York to set up a consultation.

Source:

law.justia.com/codes/new-york/ept/article-10/part-6/10-6-6/