Can I as trustee and beneficiary give monetary gifts to myself and siblings?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:there have been some cases when a family trust has done distributions to eligible beneficiaries in my family, and i think a K-1 has been issued and taxes must be paid on the amounts. however, usually those taxes are less than what the trust itself would have had to pay.

Can you tell me more about why they would have to pay taxes if the amount is under the reporting threshold? Is there something different about "distributions" versus a gift from a checking account?

OP

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There’s no one answer here because it depends on the specifics of the trust agreement.

This. What are the terms of the trust? Have you read it?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:When we had money in a non-trust account, parent gave us annual monetary gifts. These are given to reduce estate taxes. If we don't take it, Uncle Sam will take it one day.

Now, parent can't manage money. I manage the money and have moved a lot of it to a trust account on the advice of the financial advisor.

I am a trustee and also a beneficiary. Can I still legally give myself the same annual gift as before? The same amount goes to the siblings (who are backup trustees and beneficiaries).

There no concern about running out of money with the amounts we'll be taking.

I can't find this answer. I can ask an attorney when I go to revise my will but am hoping for an answer quicker than that.

You can’t pay an attorney for 15-30 minutes to get your question answered? It behooves you to do this.

[Anonymous]

I am confused. You said that you moved money into the trust based on your financial advisory's recommendations. Was the trust already created, but not funded? Or did you create the trust? Everything is spelled out in the trust documents. It should say when and how distributions are to be made. A lot of trusts include wording for withdrawals for 'Health, Education, Maintenance, and Support (HEMS)'. Which you could argue is what you are essentially doing.