Section 17 Missouri QSJT Statute

• Library: Trust and Estate Legislation 2012

At about the same time as the enactment of all of the statutes referenced above in §§12–16, other than the Virginia statute in 2001, see §12, supra, legislation with a similar goal was introduced in the Missouri legislature with the same idea of attempting to keep the creditor protection of tenancy by the entirety property after a transfer to a trust. The first proposed version of a QSJT statute attempted to confer trust property with the status of tenancy by the entirety property. The Missouri Bar, through its governmental affairs staff and The Missouri Bar Probate and Trust Committee, was asked to comment on the proposed statute. The Bar’s response was that the concept was intriguing, but there were serious issues with the proposed statute. The main issue was that, while tenancy by the entirety property transferred to a trust continued to be treated as tenancy by entirety property for creditor issues, that property retained nearly none of the characteristics of tenancy by the entirety property—e.g., the property could be controlled by and unilaterally severed by one spouse. The basic question of The Missouri Bar was to question whether a duck (tenancy by the entirety property) could be a duck if it did not act like a duck. Correspondingly, conversation began between the drafters of the proposed statute and The Missouri Bar Probate and Trust Committee, and the proposed statute was not passed in the 2010 legislative session.

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In the 2011...