Fla. L. Rev. Forum

Daniel B. Kelly
Trust Term Extension: An Economic Analysis
Response to Reid Kress Weisbord, Trust Term Extension

To compete for trust assets following a change in the federal tax code, many states repealed or abrogated the Rule Against Perpetuities (RAP). By repealing the RAP, these states allow a settlor to create a trust that lasts forever: a “dynasty trust” or “perpetual trust.” The motivation for creating such trusts varies. Some settlors may have dynastic desires. More often, settlors use perpetual trusts to minimize taxes. Regardless, settlors have embraced perpetual trusts, with an estimated $100 billion in trust assets moving into the seventeen states that abolished the RAP as of 2003. In his thoughtful article, Trust Term Extension, Reid Kress Weisbord asks a related question that may arise as a result of these recent developments: “[C]ould the duration of a trust settled in a jurisdiction governed by the Rule Against Perpetuities be extended indefinitely after the jurisdiction’s repeal of the Rule Against Perpetuities?” Read More.