Estate Planning Newsletter

• Free Your Estate From the Expense of Burial with an Irrevocable Funeral Trust
  If you are concerned that the cost of skilled nursing care or other long-term care will exhaust your savings and saddle your heirs with your funeral and burial expenses, then you may want to consider adding an Irrevocable Funeral Trust... Read more.
• Probate: Settling Affairs After Death
  Probate, a Latin term meaning “to prove the will,” is a court-supervised process that settles a person’s affairs after death. To ensure that the decedent’s final matters and wishes are handled correctly... Read more.
• Remedy for Fraudulent Transfers of Property
  A constructive trust is a remedy imposed by a court when a person has wrongfully attained property in an inappropriate way. The court will undo the transaction and order that title to the property go to the rightful... Read more.
• Taxation of Long-Term Care Insurance After HIPAA
  People are living longer, but for many a reality of aging is that at some point they are unable to care for themselves. The costs of retirement homes and in-home care are rising, generating concerns for many on how to pay for the cost... Read more.

• Chadwick Boseman Died Without A Will: 3 Reasons Why Estate Planning Is Important Even Without A Lot Of Wealth
• Election outcome may make gift tax exemptions much less available
• Auditing Your Estate Plan
• Thinking About The Unthinkable In Your Estate Planning
• As dispute over former Hart estate in Glenview continues, total legal fees top $100,000

Transferring Property to its Rightful Owner

A constructive trust is a remedy imposed by the court when a person has wrongfully attained property. The court basically takes the property away from the wrongful owner and puts it in trust for the rightful owner. In the estate planning/administration context, a constructive trust is usually imposed when there is wrongful conduct on the part of the trustee or beneficiary.

Types of Wrongful Conduct

Any wrongful activity that leads to the unfair acquisition of property may be cause for a constructive trust, including:

• Fraud
• Accident
• Mistake
• Undue influence
• Violation of trust or fiduciary duty (for example, when a trustee purchases property in his own name rather than in the name of the beneficiary)
• Homicide (for example, to obtain life insurance benefits)

Remedy Under Constructive Trusts

A constructive trust is imposed by a court as a result of a complaint by an affected party (typically a trustor or beneficiary of a trust). It may provide that the property pass from the wrongful owner to the rightful owner, or it may provide for the property to be held by a trustee for the rightful beneficiary.

However, if the unlawful owner has damaged or destroyed any of the trust property, the rightful owner is entitled to a money judgment for the value of the property.

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