Article on the New Illinois Directed Trust Statute

Daniel P. Felix (Attorney, Illinois) has recently published an article entitled, Opportunities and Pitfalls in the New Illinois Directed Trust Statute, Illinois Bar Journal Vol. 101 #6 (June 2013). Provided below is the introduction to the article:

The DirectedTrust Statute, which took effect January 1, is a welcome addition to the Trustsand Trustees Act. The statute offers greater flexibility in creating trusts andopens opportunities for estate planning attorneys.

The gravamen ofthe statute is the rec­ognition that trusts may have multiple administrators.The new law sets some (but not all) defaults and is mostly (but not completely)clear.This article provides an overview of the statute and what itdoes, describing each participant now officially available to help in trustmanagement, discussing how they relate to each other and to the trust and itsstakeholders, and identifying some gaps to cover. It also addresses thestatute’s practical impact, including a list of advantages for the varioustrust stake­holders, and offers suggestions for estate planning attorneys abouthow to make the statute work for clients.