The Trust-Partnership Interface

David R. Nave (Pitcairn Financial Group; Montgomery County Community College – Central Campus) has published the abstract of his article The Good, the Bad & the Ugly of Trusts Investing in Partnerships on SSRN.  The article will be published in the forthcoming Journal of Passthrough Entities.
 

Here is the abstract:
   

Examines the unique tax considerations to a trust investing in alternative investments such as hedge funds, real estate, venture capital and private equity through partnerships and provides guidance to trustees and advisors. Discusses prudent investor rule and suggests that if a trust is large enough, many advisors recommend to the trustee that a portion of the assets include alternative investments. These investments are generally structured as limited partnerships or limited liability companies. Discusses lack of clarity to the proper treatment of a partnership investment held by a fiduciary. Generally, current principal and income acts are inadequate in defining what is income or principal from a partnership interest, and trust instruments frequently fail to address this matter. This creates issues in determining FAI and DNI within the trust. There are inherent conflicts between Subchapter J and K. Looks at how separately stated items such as charitable contributions and portfolio expenses subject to the 2 percent floor are handled. Issues trust face in applying the passive loss rules particularly with real estate investments. Concludes that as trusts trend more and more to the modern portfolio theory of investing under the prudent investor rule, the trustee will be faced with numerous alternative investments. The structure of these investments, generally partnerships, tends to create numerous issues under Subchapter J. Therefore, it is imperative that the trustee understand the good, the bad and the ugly of investing in partnerships.