Adam Hofri-Winogradow and Mark Bennett, ‘Looking through Trusts’, Osgoode Hall Law Journal (forthcoming), available at SSRN (9 October 2024). The issue of whether trust beneficiaries should be treated differently from individuals who own their assets directly has been a central one in the trusts and estates world for centuries, and it shows no signs of disappearing. While it would be preferable to have a standard, across-the-board response to this matter, its intractable nature reveals a balancing of interests. The trust is a centuries-old fiduciary relationship that is not nefarious in and of itself. Much as they do with corporations, governments find themselves torn between respecting such voluntary arrangements according to their terms or setting them aside to prevent abuse. The purpose of look-through rules is to prevent trusts from undermining other policy goals, such as facilitating debt collection or restricting certain government benefits to individuals who demonstrate financial need … (more)
[Goldburn Maynard, JOTWELL, 31 July 2025]
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