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By Nancy Burner, Esq.

Nancy Burner, Esq.

Whether your trust requires its own EIN depends on the type of trust that you have. An Employer Identification Number (“EIN”) is a nine-digit number that the Internal Revenue Service (“IRS”) assigns to identify an entity for tax reporting purposes. An EIN, also known as a federal tax ID number, functions like a social security number.

Generally, revocable trusts do not need an EIN as they are grantor trusts and the trust’s income is reported on the tax return of the trust creator. If you have created a revocable trust, you may revoke the trust at any time and “regain” possession of the trust assets. Accordingly, a revocable trust is an extension of the grantor who created the trust. The grantor pays the income taxes generated by the revocable trust and uses the social security number of its grantor as its tax ID. Couples with a joint revocable trust both hold the power to revoke the trust, either person’s social security number can be used. A separate tax ID is necessary if they do not file taxes jointly.

A revocable trust becomes irrevocable at the grantor’s death. At that time, the trust requires an EIN, as the trust can no longer be associated with the deceased grantor’s social security number. The trust must file its own taxes.

Some lifetime irrevocable trusts are also grantor trusts and therefore taxed to the grantor just like a revocable trust. While it is not required for these trusts to maintain a separate tax ID, it is sometimes a good idea to assign same. We usually assign a federal tax ID when we do Medicaid Asset Protection Trusts. If an irrevocable trust is not classified as a grantor trust, an EIN is required as the trust is considered a “separate entity” from the grantor.

If your trust requires an EIN, an application is submitted to the IRS as soon as possible. The application contains information from the grantor and the trust to answer a series of questions for the IRS. A trustee can either apply online, or mail/fax IRS Form SS-4. If a trustee applies online, the EIN is available in a matter of minutes. If the application is completed by fax or mail, it may take a few weeks to receive the EIN.

Discuss any questions relating to the need of a separate tax ID for your trust with an experienced estate planning attorney or tax advisor. Since the income tax rate for a trust is usually so much higher than that for an individual, the question of how your trust is taxed is an crucial consideration when considering trusts.

Nancy Burner, Esq. practices elder law and estate planning from her East Setauket office. Visit www.burnerlaw.com.

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By Leah S. Dunaief

Leah Dunaief

Elections have ended and the newly elected and reelected officials are going to have to cope with a disturbing fact: people don’t trust government. This change in attitude has been a long time coming. It didn’t just happen suddenly. I know, I have lived through the change.

Trust started to fall apart with the Vietnam War. Maybe it even started earlier than that, with the assassination of President Kennedy.  I was in my early 20s then, just graduated from college, newly married, in my dream job, looking forward to an unbounded future filled with joyful events. The nation was at peace, there was a young and vigorous president talking about making life better with civil rights legislation, women were speaking up for themselves, it was a hopeful time.

Friday afternoon, a sunny day, business lunch in a midtown Manhattan restaurant with a television on over the bar in the distance, a movie playing about a president who had been shot in the head. But wait. Wait! It wasn’t a movie, it was a news broadcast from Dallas interrupting the regular programming, it was our president, everyone standing up, crying, paying their checks, rushing back to their offices, trying to deal with the unthinkable. 

How could this happen? How could Secret Service let this happen? In our country! A president, the President of the United States, could not be protected! Our bubble of safety was bursting, slowly, excruciatingly. Lee Harvey Oswald shot on television while under arrest. In what could you trust?

Who killed Kennedy? All kinds of conspiracy theories, the Warren Commission, an end but never a certainty. Was the government lying to us? Was there a cover-up?

Next came the Vietnam War. First only “advisors,” then military, then body counts, always more Viet Cong than Americans lay on the battlefields. Promises of progress and victory by the government, as casualties and numbers drafted rose. This even as Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara privately expressed doubts of victory as early as 1966. But President Johnson was afraid of losing the 1968 election should the United States withdraw. Instead we lost thousands of young men, all of which eventually was revealed to the public. Protests were the order of the day, and more violence, including the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr., Robert Kennedy and the chaos at the 1968 Democratic Convention in Chicago. What’s happening to the nation’s authority figures?

We rolled right into Watergate and Nixon’s resignation. Our President accused of being a liar and a crook. What’s left to believe in? President Jimmy Carter held hostage by the Iranians, the Iran-Contra deception of Ronald Reagan’s second term, Bill Clinton making Monica Lewinsky a household name around the globe. Then the Weapons of Mass Destruction lies by the senior administration officials manipulating us into the Iraq and Afghanistan Wars. Whom to believe? 

Whom to trust? Each lie, each governmental deception blew away more trust, leading to the climax: the disbelief in the COVID-19 vaccine. Even when ex-President Donald Trump urged his audience to get vaccinated on Aug. 21, in Cullman, Alabama, one of the areas struggling to cope with COVID cases and hospitalization, he was booed. “But I recommend take the vaccines,” Trump said. “I did it. It’s good. Take the vaccines.” After that experience, he hasn’t again mentioned vaccination at a rally. But the reaction wasn’t partisan. They were, like Trump, all Republicans who had come to hear him, It was symptomatic of the larger distrust in government.

I was in my early teens when I received the polio vaccination. Polio was a dreaded disease by parents the world over, more so as I remember, than COVID-19. Like today, we were discouraged from assembling in groups or joining crowds. The virus attacks the brain and spinal cord, leaving paralysis and even causing death. When Jonas Salk and his colleagues created the vaccine, we all lined up to take the shot. It was the Eisenhower years. We believed our president.

Those vaccines have eliminated polio from most of the world. That’s what approved vaccinations can do.

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The Rev. Mary Speers says the Setauket Presbyterian Church is in a “listening phase” when it comes to mapping out a future with its share of a $100 million trust from the Gillespie family. Photo by Phil Corso

A $100 million trust has the Setauket Presbyterian Church community’s collective ear.

Along with five other philanthropic entities, the church was named a beneficiary of a $100 million charitable trust from the estates of Kingsley Gillespie and his son, Kenyon Gillespie, earlier this spring. The Rev. Mary Speers described the big news as if she were expecting a newborn baby, referring to the trust as “an incredible gift” that will change the church in more ways than they can even anticipate.

“Think about what happens when you’re expecting a baby — especially the first one,” she said. “You’re excited — you don’t want to get too excited too fast — but you can’t help yourself … it’s exciting.”

The gift carried on the philanthropic contributions that both the Kingsley and Kenyon Gillespie families have made, keeping the arts, community service and faith strong.

The charitable trust came as a result of Kenyon Gillespie’s death in March 2015, which built upon the success of his father Kingsley Gillespie and mother Doris Kenyon, who both died in the 1980s.

The Gillespie family's connection to the Setauket church is on display on a baptismal font. Photo by Phil Corso
The Gillespie family’s connection to the Setauket church is on display on a baptismal font. Photo by Phil Corso

The church and the nearby Long Island Museum were named beneficiaries along with MIT, Stamford Hospital, The Rotary Club of Stamford and The First Presbyterian Church of Stamford and will be receiving income earned by the $100 million trust. Stamford Hospital will be getting the biggest share of 50 percent, while the five others will receive 10 percent of the annual 5 percent distribution required by law of such trusts every year.

“It was a total surprise,” Speers said of the Setauket church learning of its role in the trust. “It took a long time for us to wrap our heads around it. We’re still trying to wrap our heads around it.”

In an interview, Speers said one of the biggest challenges facing the church would be making sure the money is used to enhance the community’s culture of participation. She said the entire congregation was in a “listening phase” since learning of the trust, soaking up as much information as possible before making any big decisions.

“We want to think of this as seed money and incentive money, rather than turning ourselves into a grant foundation,” she said. “The Gillespie family singled out the church as something distinct, and we’re trying to be faithful to that — to be part of the fabric of a healthy society.”

The Rev. Mary Speers says the Setauket Presbyterian Church is in a “listening phase” when it comes to mapping out a future with its share of a $100 million trust from the Gillespie family. Photo by Phil Corso
The Rev. Mary Speers says the Setauket Presbyterian Church is in a “listening phase” when it comes to mapping out a future with its share of a $100 million trust from the Gillespie family. Photo by Phil Corso

Speers said she hoped the influx of money would help strengthen integral pieces of the church’s mission that are already in place, like its open door exchange, which provides furniture to those in need. Doris Kenyon was born in 1900 in Brooklyn, but spent summers as a child in Old Field before moving there in the 1930s. She had a lifelong affection for the Three Village community, the Long Island Museum said in a press release. She was married to Kingsley Gillespie, a graduate of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and the two built their family in the Three Village area before retiring to Florida.

Speers said she was initially unsure of exactly how connected the Gillespie family was to the church so many decades ago, but that confusion was quickly squashed when she realized the name of Joan Kenyon Gillespie — Kingsley’s daughter — on a baptismal font that was gifted in her honor after her 1959 death.

“They were clearly a big part of this community — they loved this community,” she said.

The Setauket Presbyterian Church, founded in 1660, will benefit considerably through the charitable trust. The institution, located on the village green at Caroline Avenue in Setauket, has been a longtime home for more than 500 people of faith.

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By Linda M. Toga, Esq.

The Facts:  I created an irrevocable trust a number of years ago. However, my circumstances have changed dramatically, and the trust no longer suits my needs. I want to revoke the trust and sell the assets that are in the trust.

The Question: Although the trust is irrevocable, is there a way it can be revoked?

The Answer: Good news! Fortunately, there are circumstances when an irrevocable trust can, in fact, be revoked. If your needs and goals have changed to the point that the trust no longer serves a useful purpose, you may want to amend or revoke the trust. Whether you are able to do so will depend on the language of the trust document itself and the cooperation of the beneficiaries.

Generally, if all of the beneficiaries are of legal age and competent, they can sign a document giving their consent to the amendment or the revocation of the trust. The beneficiaries’ signatures must be notarized for the amendment/revocation to be effective. If any of the beneficiaries are minors, you will not be able to amend or revoke the trust since minors cannot legally give consent.    

Assuming that you are able to revoke your trust, you will also have to change the title on any trust assets such as real property or motor vehicles that have recorded titles. Accounts held by the trust will also need to be retitled if the trust is revoked. This may or may not need to be done if you simply amend the terms of the trust without removing trust assets.

When amending or revoking a trust, it is very important that the document setting forth the changes to be made to the trust properly identify the trust and the beneficiaries. It is also important that all trust assets be accounted for and properly retitled when appropriate.

To avoid mistakes and problems down the road either with an unhappy beneficiary or with assets that are still held by a trust that no longer exists, it is best to retain the services of an attorney with experience creating and revoking trusts.

Linda M. Toga, Esq. provides legal services in the areas of litigation, estate planning and real estate from her East Setauket office.

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