Jan 1, 2005 12:00 PM

, By Anthony E. Wood, vice president, JPMorgan Private Bank, New York

By Anthony E. Wood, vice president, JPMorgan Private Bank, New York

It'd be easy to write off 2004 as a year of much talk and little action when it comes to trusts and estates law — easy, but misleading. While it's true that Congress failed to enact estate tax legislation, a major tax law it did pass, the American Jobs Creation Act, includes important provisions for trusts and estates practitioners. Charities bills didn't move forward in Washington, but new statutory structures for private foundations came up in some key state legislatures.

The Internal Revenue Service also issued rules affecting grantor trusts, and the courts decided a number of cases involving family limited partnerships. All told, there were a number of important themes to track.