D established a trust for the benefit of her three adult children, appointing herself as trustee. Under the terms of the trust, the income was to be divided equally among the three, except that D retained the right to vary the distribution or invade the corpus to provide for "medical emergencies, professional education, and inability of any beneficiary to support himself or herself." At D's death, the trust terminates and the corpus is distributed to Y or Y's estate. What are the likely consequences of this trust at D's death? The value of the trust corpus will be excluded from her gross estate under sections 2036 and 2038 because the "ascertainable standard" rule of Jennings v. Smith and Old Colony Trust applies. The value of the trust corpus is included in her gross estate under sections 2036 and 2038 simply because she is the grantor of the trust. The value of the trust corpus is included in her gross estate under section 2033. The value of the trust corpus will be included in her gross estate under sections 2036 and 2038 because her control is not subject to an ascertainable standard.

D established a trust for the benefit of her three adult children, appointing herself as trustee. Under the terms of the trust, the income was to be divided equally among the three, except that D retained the right to vary the distribution or invade the corpus to provide for "medical emergencies, professional education, and inability of any beneficiary to support himself or herself." At D's death, the trust terminates and the corpus is distributed to Y or Y's estate. What are the likely consequences of this trust at D's death? The value of the trust corpus will be excluded from her gross estate under sections 2036 and 2038 because the "ascertainable standard" rule of Jennings v. Smith and Old Colony Trust applies. The value of the trust corpus is included in her gross estate under sections 2036 and 2038 simply because she is the grantor of the trust. The value of the trust corpus is included in her gross estate under section 2033. The value of the trust corpus will be included in her gross estate under sections 2036 and 2038 because her control is not subject to an ascertainable standard.