Jul 1, 2010 1:00 PM

, Susan R. Lipp Editor in Chief

Susan R. Lipp Editor in Chief

As we went to press this month, a few developments in the estate-planning world occurred, but uncertainty still prevailed. The House of Representatives had just voted to approve The Small Business Jobs Tax Relief Act of 2010 (H.R. 5486). This Act places various restrictions on grantor retained annuity trusts (GRATs), including a requirement that they have a minimum 10-year term. The Senate hadn't yet acted on its version of the bill. But, confusion still reigns regarding whether Congress will make any retroactive changes to the estate tax law and the estate tax rate and exemption amount that will apply moving forward. We also started seeing the first stories in the press about billionaires who passed away in 2010 while no estate tax was in effect.

The theme of uncertainly also pervades the articles in our Fiduciary Profession's Committee Report. This year, fiduciaries face various predicaments, thanks to the uncertain environment and the unsettled law in the trusts-and-estates area. “The 2010 Landscape for Fiduciaries” by Gail E. Cohen (p. 35) covers the dilemmas fiduciaries now face with respect to raising cash needs, allocating special basis and spousal adjustments and acting as trustees of a non-exempt generation skipping transfer trust in the current environment. The article “Private Equity Investing in Trust” by Pascal Levensohn (p. 44) explains how the complex reality of the global financial crisis poses particular problems for professional trustees who may be responsible for the illiquid private equity investment in a trust and who must decide whether to continue to support or walk away from a private equity investment. And, “Settlor Incompetence and the Trustee's Quandary” by Eric L. Maassen and Gregory M. Monday (p. 38) reviews the practical and legal issues that arise when a settlor becomes mentally incapacitated and the no-win situation in which the trustees may find themselves due to the unsettled state of the law.