Mississippians may soon get to decide what will happen to their assets until the year 2375.
The Senate has approved a house bill that would allow Mississippians to set up a trust that could extend 360 years into the future.
Current state law allows Mississippians to set-up a trust that can last 90 years after they die. A trust is a legal entity that can hold property or assets in perpetuity for the person who created it. But Republican Senator Sally Doty of Brookhaven brought a bill to the floor of the Senate that could change that.
"It puts us in-line with other states who are offering some more flexibility in their trust laws, and we don't have that flexibility in Mississippi," says Doty. "I think it's important to allow our banking institutions and attorney's to be able to have that flexibility when working with their clients."
While the bill may have real economic benefits for Mississippians living today, some are worried the extensions will tie up much-needed resources until the 24th century. Democratic Senator Hob Bryan of Amory voted led the charge against the bill.
"The world belongs to the living," Bryan says. "An individual can do what he or she wishes with their assets, but after about 100 years the ownership of those assets need to belong to some human being whose alive at that point instead of being tied up in a trust for another couple of centuries."
The bill will now head to a conference committee between the House and Senate to work out respective difference in the bill.
