Surviving and Thriving In the Tax Patent Era

, By Gerald B. Treacy, Jr., partner, Treacy Law Group, PLLC, Poulsbo, Wash., and of counsel, Montgomer

By Gerald B. Treacy, Jr., partner, Treacy Law Group, PLLC, Poulsbo, Wash., and of counsel, Montgomer

Just as things seemed to be quieting down)after the Pension Protection Act of 2006, Jalong came the latest challenge to the peace of the estate-planning world: tax patents.

In early 2006, an infringement suit was filed over the first “business method” patent for a method to reduce taxes by transferring stock options into grantor retained annuity trusts (GRATs)¹. The parties ultimately settled,² but not before the tax-planning community was in an uproar over the realization of the patent's and the suit's implications.

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