Summary
The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court approved reformation of a trust to conform to the settlor’s intent to obtain estate-tax benefits through a charitable remainder annuity trust. The court authorized replacing discretionary income distributions with a fixed annuity amount and substituting qualifying charitable foundations for the originally named organizations. The court also addressed procedural issues concerning the Probate and Family Court’s attempted report of a finally decided case and the beneficiaries’ assent to the facts.
Topics
Practice areas
Questions Presented
- Whether Massachusetts law permits reformation of the trust to conform to the settlor's intent to obtain favorable charitable remainder trust and estate-tax treatment.
- Whether the trust should be reformed as a charitable remainder annuity trust rather than a charitable remainder unitrust.
- Whether the named charitable beneficiaries should be replaced with their qualifying foundations.
- Whether the Supreme Judicial Court could decide the case despite the probate judge's unauthorized report of a final judgment and the beneficiaries' lack of assent to the specific facts.
Holdings
- A trust instrument may be reformed to conform to the settlor's intent, including when the original instrument produces tax results clearly inconsistent with the settlor's tax objectives.
- The trust should be reformed as a charitable remainder annuity trust requiring payment of an annuity amount equal to 7.2 percent of the net fair market value of the trust assets as of the settlor's death, rather than as a charitable remainder unitrust requiring annual valuation.
- The trust should be reformed to name the American Civil Liberties Union Foundation and the Greenfield Community College Foundation in place of the ACLU and Greenfield Community College.
- The court could decide the case notwithstanding the probate judge's error in reporting a case that had already been finally decided.
Key quotations
“It is well settled that, as a matter of Massachusetts’ law, a trust instrument may be reformed to conform to the settlor’s intent.” (1007)
“We have allowed the reformation of trust instruments which produced tax results that were clearly inconsistent with the settlor’s tax objectives.” (1007)
Factual background
Kent W. Frederickson established the trust in 1995 and died in 1999. The trust gave the trustee discretion to distribute income to individual lifetime beneficiaries and named the American Civil Liberties Union and Greenfield Community College as remainder beneficiaries, but those organizations did not qualify under the applicable tax provisions for the intended charitable deduction. Evidence indicated that Frederickson intended to create a charitable remainder trust and to provide beneficiaries with a stable, predictable annuity while benefiting the ACLU and Greenfield Community College through their qualifying foundations.
Procedural history
The Probate and Family Court allowed the trustee's motion to waive appointment of a guardian ad litem and purported to allow reformation of the trust before reporting the case. The Supreme Judicial Court held that the probate judge lacked authority to report a case that had been finally decided, but decided the case despite that procedural error. After requesting additional information concerning the intended trust type and institutional beneficiaries, the court ordered entry of judgment reforming the trust.
Remand instructions
The Probate and Family Court was directed to enter judgment reforming Article III of the trust as requested in substitute exhibit G.