Family Estate Trusts

Abstract

<p>The recent attention to revocable living trusts has led to some confusion with a far less useful concept, the trust referred to variously as the "family estate" trust, "pure" trust, and "constitutional" trust. The latest version of these trusts, all of which are valued as substantially less than worthless, is the two-trust off-shore version or the foreign tax haven double trust. The trusts are mostly sold door-to-door through local contacts who tout the trusts as devices to solve all of one's estate-planning problems. The trusts are purportedly irrevocable, generally for a 25-year term.</p>