Ashlea EbelingForbes Staff Retirement

The U.S. Supreme Court has announced it will hear a trust tax case that has significant implications for states and trust beneficiaries: Hundreds of millions of dollars of annual tax revenue hang in the balance. “It’s a big development,” says Carol Harrington, an estate lawyer with McDermott Will & Emery.

The question posed in North Carolina Department of Revenue v. the Kimberley Rice Kaestner 1992 Family Trust is: Does the due process clause prohibit states from taxing trusts based on trust beneficiaries’ in-state residency?

The case before the high court has practical implications across the country:  North Carolina alone has already received more than 450 contingent income-tax returns from trusts awaiting the outcome of the case.