Article on Longevity Planning For Tax Advantaged Trusts in Michigan

James P. Spica, (Partner at Dickinson Wright PLLC) recentlypublished an article entitled, Split to Last: Longevity Planning For Tax Advantaged Trusts Under a New Statutory Decanting Regime in Michigan, 48 Real Prop. Tr. & Est. L.J. 35-81 (2013).  Provided below is the introduction:

Applicabilityof Michigan’s perpetuities reform is simply a function of the vintages oftrusts subject to Michigan law: except for certain personal property previouslyheld in trusts that were irrevocable on September 25, 1985, Michigan’s PersonalProperty Trust Perpetuities Act of 2008 (PPTPA) applies to interests inpersonal property held in any trust that was revocable on, or created after,May 28, 2008.1 It is a salient feature of Michigan’snew, tripartite statutory decanting regime the subject of this Article that thereceptacle trust to which trust assets are distributed pursuant to a“decanting” may be a new trust created by the trustee of the decanted trust asof the time of decanting and that, in any case, it is the vintage of thereceptacle or distribution trust that determines the period during which thevesting of future interests in the assets of that trust may be suspended orpostponed under Michigan law.