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cases as the sun was setting on 2012, said Brad Grossenburg, a Sioux Falls attorney specializing in business planning, estates and trusts.
• Grossenburg said some of the concerns were rational and some were not, but his work more than doubled over the past few weeks. He said he's hearing similar stories from his American College of Trust and Estate Counsel fellows in other states.
• South Dakota is a popular state for trusts filed by out-of-staters because it does not impose any state-level taxes on the trusts and puts no limit on how long they can continue. The 2nd Circuit is in Sioux Falls, the state's largest city. The state also keeps both the names of the people behind the trusts and details of the agreements confidential.
• "We've got some favorable policies and created some favorable circumstances for people," said U.S. Sen. John Thune, R-S.D. "It's the tax policy to some degree and the privacy laws."
• If the fiscal cliff issues were to remain unresolved on Jan. 1, a $5.12 million federal exemption from estate or gift taxes would drop to $1 million and tax rates would jump from 35 percent to 55 percent. That could be devastating for a small family farmer with 300 to 400 acres worth around $10,000 each, Grossenburg said.
• "He went from not owing any taxes to where he's going to have to sell the farm, and that's what everybody's nervous about," Grossenburg said.
• President Barack Obama said Monday that a deal was in sight to address the across-the-board tax increases and spending cuts due to take effect Tuesday. Congress was working against a midnight deadline to get it finalized.
• Karl Thoennes, administrator for the 2nd Circuit Court in Sioux Falls, said he has had to reassign staff after the court saw a spike of 20 trust filings in a single day, "which for a court this size is a lot."
• The filings had slowed to normal levels by Monday, said retiring Circuit Judge William Srstka, who made himself available at his home through midnight for any last-minute attorneys looking to slip in before the deadline.
• Total trust filings in the district are actually down this year, with 160 filed to date this calendar year compared with 218 in 2011.
• "It doesn't seem like that to the staff right now," Thoennes said.
• Thoennes said the court district doesn't count modifications of existing trusts to modify terms or add assets, but his staff tells him that activity is up, too. Staff members are used to an end-of-year spike, but it typically hits around November, before Christmas.
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