The complex area of law concerning revocable inter vivos trusts and the settlor’s estate is one that every legal professional in corporations and law firms needs to be conversant with. The latest case study concerning this issue provides an illuminating analysis of a scenario involving a dying settlor, a general assignment, and the transfer of potentially valuable property located in a safe deposit box.
In this case, a gentleman, poised for a life-endangering surgery, is the settlor of a revocable inter vivos trust. The legal dilemma at hand revolved around whether an agent, duly appointed by the settlor, could effect a transfer of contents found within the settlor’s safe deposit box to a trustee using a general assignment.
The underpinning context that makes this case an interesting one for the legal community lies in the fact that the beneficiaries of the revocable inter vivos trust are not the same individuals who stand to inherit the settlor’s probate estate. Ensuring that the trust is funded as per the settlor’s intention while the settlor is alive is the crux of the matter, a task sometimes much easier said than done.
The gentleman in question owned a significant amount of bearer bonds stored in safe deposit boxes in three different banks in Boston. The request petitioned to the agent was to ensure a full-blown estate plan with the inter vivos trust being one of the pivotal elements of the estate planning strategy. It seems a straightforward enough request. But are there potential legal pitfalls that could surprise the unprepared?
While this particular case is being analyzed and the law in this area continues to evolve, let this scenario underscore the importance of understanding the intricacies and nuances that revocable inter vivos trusts bring to estate planning. As every experienced legal professional knows, these are the sorts of details that can dramatically effect the resolution of an estate, both in terms of its timing and its ultimate distribution.