Migrating Trusts to New Hampshire
This article discusses those circumstances in which it may be possible for New Hampshire lawyers to help move a foreign irrevocable trust here, and what should be done to assist in accomplishing any given set of trust migration objectives while avoiding the many potential pitfalls in doing so. The primary focus will be on moving from the eight most proximate states in the northeast from which trust migration to New Hampshire is perhaps most likely – the five other New England states and New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania. The analytical framework described herein for determining what must be done in those states will generally apply if you are dealing with a trust located in another state. For convenience, a trust’s current non-New Hampshire jurisdiction will occasionally be referred to as the “original trust state.”
A word of caution at the outset: there is tremendous ferment in the various state legislatures as the inter-jurisdictional competition for trust situs continues unabated (indeed, even accelerates). The trust laws in all of the states are evolving, some faster than others. Therefore, this article has a limited shelf life as an accurate resource to practitioners.