Revival Trusts

Abstract

It is estimated that 1,500 Americans have made arrangements to have their remains cryogenically frozen at time of death, and 400 people have actually been frozen. Cryonics is the practice of preserving human remains at temperatures below -120 degrees Celsius after pronouncement of legal death. The technology does not yet exist to reanimate the deanimated, but futurists believe that science will soon be able to restore the deceased to healthy living condition. It would be unfortunate for the reanimated to be alive but poor, and to that end, a revival trust or cryonic suspension trust is an estate planning tool utilized by those who have decided to have their remains cryogenically frozen. The purpose of these trusts is to ensure that the newly revived deceased will have sufficient financial resources whether they are revived decades or centuries from now. Reanimation would lead to any number of tax and estate planning difficulties given that the Internal Revenue Service has yet to take a position on whether a reanimated taxpayer would be classified as a new taxpayer or as his, her, or their former self. This Article considers the myriad of legal and tax issues involved with these trusts, the public policy ramifications of permitting these trusts, and planning tactics in the face of uncertainty.

Keywords: cryonics, cryogenics, deceased, estate planning, tax, tax law, taxpayer, tax planning, revival trusts, trust, cryonic suspension trust, frozen