From an extension to elect out of automatic allocations of the generation-skipping transfer (GST) tax exemption to alternative business structures for legal services, we have recently seen significant developments in estate planning and business law. To ensure that you stay abreast of these legal changes, we have highlighted some noteworthy developments and analyzed how they may impact your estate planning and business law practice.

Undue Influence is when someone pressures another in such a way that the person being influenced is not acting by their own free will; they are being coerced into taking a certain action. The person being influenced does not understand the repercussions of their actions.

Recognizing undue influence is a job for many – lawyers, financial advisors, notaries, bankers, and family members. Due to the nature of undue influence, it is often carried out by loved ones and kept hidden from others. Undue influence often happens in the case of illness, where there is a deterioration in physical and mental abilities. The bad actor will take advantage of the ill person, unduly influencing them into taking actions to benefit the bad actor.

The issue of undue influence was litigated in Malousek v. Meyer. Here, we have Molly and Greg, who began cohabitating in 2009. In 2015, Molly was diagnosed with cancer and began treatments. By 2017, her health had drastically deteriorated. In mid-October 2017, the pair added Greg as a joint owner on Molly’s bank accounts, changed beneficiary designations in Greg’s favor, got married, and executed a quitclaim deed in order to have the home transfer to Greg upon Molly’s death. In addition, Molly executed a power of attorney naming Greg’s son, Mark, as agent.

When the federal estate tax exemption is high, the issue of how to apportion death taxes is of less concern to many families. But this issue can cause controversy with taxable estates, blended families, and certain types of assets. If the decedent’s will or trust is silent on the issue of tax apportionment or the decedent died intestate, state law provides default rules that determine which interests or assets in a decedent’s estate bear the burden of paying death taxes. If a certain interest is insufficient to pay the net tax attributable to property passing under the terms of the trust, state law often also provides an order of priority for payment of the balance of the tax owed. However, the terms of the decedent’s will or trust can override these rules; that is, everyone has the opportunity to direct how taxes (and expenses, for that matter) will be paid. In a taxable estate, this may be the most important provision in the testamentary instrument.