I opened my Trusts & Estates class this past semester with a hypothetical loosely based on the deaths of Rob Reiner and Michele Singer Reiner. Their son Nick Reiner, who is accused of causing their deaths, has requested a distribution from a trust created by his parents. More details here at the Wealth Advisor.
If Nick Reiner was entitled to a distribution when he turned 30, and he’s 32 now, I’m not sure that the trustee can refuse to make the distribution, absent a court order to the contrary. But the facts do raise lots of interesting questions about presumed settlor intent and any potential future trust-law analogs to the “slayer statute” (although, to be clear, Nick Reiner is accused of two counts of first-degree murder, but has not yet been tried). I’ll be watching this case with interest.
You and me both!