“Estate Planning’s Most Powerful Tool: Powers of Appointment Refreshed, Redefined, and Reexamined” (with Jonathan G. Blattmachr), Real Property, Trust and Estate Law Journal, Volume 47, Number 3

By Jonathan G. Blattmachr, Kim Kamin & Jeffrey M. Bergman

One of the most versatile tools estate planners have at their disposal is the power of appointment. Despite its wide use, the benefits and limitations of the power of appointment are not widely understood. This Article discusses those benefits and limitations, and instructs how to use the power of appointment to achieve the intended disposition of the donor or testator, including drafting techniques for both general and special powers of appointment either exercisable presently or in the future. Finally, this Article discusses how to use powers of appointment to “decant” trust assets from one trust to another, reducing the tax consequences of trust dispositions.
(RPTE Law Journal, Winter 2013 Vol. 47, No. 3)

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