Wealth Strategies Journal:  The Law of Unintended Consequences generally holds that human conduct will produce at least one unintended consequence over a course of time and during a series of activities or transactions.

Disclaimer: Material is presented here for general information purposes and does not constitute legal or tax advice. The intent of the material is to provide some insights into the issues which can arise when proper due diligence and qualified counsel may be somewhat absent during the annuity sales process.

The law of unintended consequences is an adage or idiomatic warning that an intervention in a complex system always creates unexpected and often undesirable outcomes. [wikipedia.org] In the financial world there are few better examples of a “complexity” than annuity contracts.

When annuities intersect with trust drafting by estate planning attorneys, expect the unexpected. A few case histories from the file will illustrate the point and serve as harbinger of advisory challenges.