ESTATE PLANNING NEWS
 Remarriage: Treat New Spouse Like Royalty
Examines use of income trust in remarriage situations. Analogizes to royal trust in Duchy of Cornwall.

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ESTATE PLANNING NEWS
 Charitable Bequests: You Better Review Them
This article examines the importance of periodic trust review and uses an example of charitable bequests and cy pres.

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EDUCATIONAL ALERTS
 Joint Committee on Taxation Proposes Tax Law Changes Effecting Estate Planning
On January 27, 2005, the Congressional Joint Committee on Taxation (JCT) released a 435 page report entitled "JCS-02-05 Options to Improve Tax Compliance and Reform Tax Expenditures." Assuming that the estate tax is not repealed, the following proposals contained in the JCT report may be enacted in order to tighten up several estate planning strategies the IRS has viewed as abusive.

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EDUCATIONAL FYIs
 Power of Attorney, Lacking Gift-Giving Authority, Does Not Authorize Gifts to Agent
Mother, suffering from mild dementia, executed a general power of attorney in favor of her son--the power of attorney did not include any language specifically authorizing gifts.  Shortly thereafter she moved in and lived with him, and after about eight months moved to a nursing home.  At the time of her move to the nursing home the son, using his power of attorney, transferred all her real property, stocks and other assets to himself.  The mother died a little over a year later, leaving a will that devised all her assets equally to her son and daughter.  After securing appointment as executor of the estate, daughter filed suit to recover the remaining assets, arguing that the purpose of the original conveyance was solely to protect the assets from being depleted by nursing home expenses and that with the mother's death they should be reconveyed to her estate.  Trial court ordered reconveyance and on appealed. Intermediate state appellate court affirms, noting that without a specific gift-giving provision in the power of attorney, a gift to the agent "carries with it a presumption of impropriety and self-dealing."  In order to overcome that presumption, the recipient of the gift must make "the clearest showing of intent" on the part of the principal; evidence that the mother in this case trusted her son more, wanted him to manage her money, and may even have been fearful of her daughter did not meet that high standard of evidence.

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