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Trustees, stop using letters of wishes

If you are a corporate trustee and you’re advising a customer on using a trust that somehow touches the United States, I have some advice.

Don’t use a letter of wishes.

It’s too cute. It doesn’t stand independent from the rest of the trust. You know and I know that your trustees will follow the letter of wishes slavishly. It. Is. A. Farce.

And it fails utterly from a U.S. Tax POV.

This public service message is brought to you from a iPad at Beantown in Sierra Madre, California. Carry on with your day.

EDITED:  (to remove potty-mouth stuff and add a hyperlink).