When it rejected a woman’s claim for alimony and child support to be taken out of a self-settled spendthrift trust established by her husband, Nevada’s Supreme Court made it clear: the state has the most protective trust laws in the county.
On May 25th, the Nevada Supreme Court rejected Lynita Sue Nelson’s claim for alimony and child support to be taken out of a self-settled spendthrift trust established by husband Eric Nelson. As reported by Wealth Advisor’s in its article, “How Nevada Became America's Safest State for Wealth Protection,” her husband still had to pay the $800,000 owed in alimony, child support and tuition for their daughter’s private school. However, the money had to come from sources other than the trust.
The Nelsons had divided their assets in 1993, with the aim of shielding the wife from riskier assets in their portfolio, such as casinos and liquor licenses. When the state legislature enacted laws enabling them, they placed their separate assets into two self-settled spendthrift trusts.
A self-settled spendthrift trust is a form of irrevocable trust which names the grantor as a beneficiary. These trusts are structured so that neither the grantor nor his creditors, have the power to access trust assets and the trust also delegates authority for distributions to an independent trustee.
In the event that a creditor or spouse brings suit against the grantor for assets in the trust, the trustee can’t make any distributions. The trust assets are protected, unless the law allows exceptions (some state statutes do, for alimony and child support). The Nevada case asked if these exceptions would be allowed.
Eric and Lynita Sue Nelson were both residents of Nevada. Their assets included both liquid assets and real estate, all of which was located in Nevada. Questions are raised about individuals who live outside Nevada or hold assets out of state.
It’s not certain whether an individual who resides in another state, and sues in that state, if the court will recognize self-settled spendthrift trusts. Only 17 states allow self-settled spendthrift trusts, and some make an exception for alimony and child support claims.
The recent ruling may encourage individuals to use Nevada for their trusts, but it is as yet unknown as to whether or not one state would recognize the other state’s laws about protective trusts, if the person is not a resident of Nevada.
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