Investment Considerations Under the Prudent Investor Act

Abstract

The author starts with the observation that much of estate planning concerns itself with navigating the shoals of the estate and gift tax systems to bring assets safely home to the client's desired beneficiaries. Unfortunately, this focus on the hazards of transfer often allows for scant consideration of how the assets should be managed once they are safely brought to port. It is not uncommon to provide simply that trust assets should be managed “prudently,” as that term is defined by applicable state law, for the benefit of one or more individuals for life and distributed to one or more remainder beneficiaries when the lead interest ends. The author thus addresses the legal framework of fiduciary investing, the Uniform Prudent Investor Act and its corollary act, the Uniform Principal and Income Act, which form the basic legal framework within which fiduciaries perform their duties. He also briefly addresses income tax law as it applies to trust taxation.