[WSBAPT] Secret Trust?

[Eric Nelsen]

Kristina-- I think the client's goal makes sense but the method is not well-suited. As a totally unsolicited, nonresponse to your actual question:  A book by favorite author of mine has a protagonist who is the beneficiary of trust that will only pay out once he personally earns and saves a specified amount of money by a certain deadline. If he fails to make his own money and save a sufficient amount by the deadline, then he will not receive the inheritance. Since I became a lawyer, I have waited for a good opportunity to try drafting that kind of trust...

Conversely, in another novel by a different favorite author of mine, the protagonist is the beneficiary of an uncle's will that specifies that pays him a regular generous stipend until he completes his undergraduate degree, so long as he stays a full-time student. At the beginning of the book, he is approximately 13 years into his undergraduate studies and is locked in a feud with his college counselor who keeps trying to graduate him by finding a combination of classes he has taken that fulfills a degree requirement…

Sincerely,

Eric

Eric C. Nelsen
SAYRE LAW OFFICES, PLLC
1320 University St
Seattle WA  98101-2837
phone 206-625-0092
fax 206-625-9040




From: wsbapt-bounces at lists.wsbarppt.com [mailto:wsbapt-bounces at lists.wsbarppt.com] On Behalf Of Kristina DeVore
Sent: Sunday, January 17, 2016 2:56 PM
To: WSBA Probate & Trust Listserv
Subject: [WSBAPT] Secret Trust?

Listmates:

I have a client who would like to leave a portion of his estate to his son in trust and would like to have the trust be completely secret for a period of time after his death.  He is concerned that a large looming inheritance might create an incentive for the son to no longer be a productive member of society and instead just wait out the time period until he would receive his inheritance.  I have read RCW 11.98.072 and the waiver in that section seems to imply that a trustor can waive the requirements in 11.98.072(2) and/or (3) but does not imply that a trustor can waive the requirements of 11.98.072(1) to keep a “qualified beneficiary reasonably informed about the administration of the trust and of the material facts necessary for them to protect their interests”.  However, RCW 11.97.010 states that a “trustor of a trust may…relieve the trustee from any or all of the duties, restrictions, and liabilities which would otherwise be imposed by chapters  11.98….”

Does this mean that a trustor can create a testamentary trust that is kept secret from the beneficiary after the trustor dies by waiving the duties of 11.98.072 (1) (2) and (3)?

Thanks in advance for any thoughts you can share.

Kristina


Kristina S. DeVore | Attorney & Counselor at Law
KRISTINA DEVORE LAW FIRM, pllc | 300 W. 15th Street, Suite 305 | Vancouver, WA  98660
Phone: (360) 695-0535 | Fax: (360) 737-4154 | kristina at devore-law.com<mailto:kristina at devore-law.com>




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