This Example is intended to help you compare the cost of investing in the Fund with the cost of investing in other mutual funds. The Example assumes that you invest $10,000 in the Fund for the time periods indicated and then redeem all of your shares at the end of those periods. The Example also assumes that your investment has a 5% return each year and that the Fund’s operating expenses remain the same. Class C shares automatically convert to Class A shares after eight years. The expense example for Class C shares for the ten-year period reflects the conversion to Class A shares. Although your actual costs may be higher or lower, based on these assumptions your costs would be:

Under normal conditions, the Fund invests at least 80% of its net assets, plus the amount of any borrowings for investment purposes, in municipal bonds that pay interest exempt from federal income tax. These municipal bonds and other securities in which the Fund may invest may pay interest that is subject to the federal alternative minimum tax (“AMT”) for certain taxpayers. Normally, the Fund seeks to maintain an investment portfolio with a weighted average effective duration of less than 4.5 years.

Although the Fund may invest in municipal bonds in any rating category, under normal conditions, the Fund invests at least 50% of its net assets in municipal bonds rated BBB+/Baa1 or lower (at the time of purchase), or an equivalent short-term rating, as applicable, by an independent rating agency or that are unrated but deemed by Lord, Abbett & Co. LLC (“Lord Abbett”) to be of comparable quality, with a particular emphasis on lower rated municipal bonds (commonly referred to as “below investment grade,” “high yield,” or “junk” bonds), which are bonds that are rated BB+/Ba1 or lower (at the time of purchase), or an equivalent short-term rating, as applicable, by an independent rating agency or are unrated but deemed by Lord Abbett to be of comparable quality. The Fund may invest without limitation in unrated municipal bonds, which may constitute a significant portion of the Fund’s portfolio.

The Fund also may invest in defaulted securities (i.e., bonds on which the issuer has not paid principal or interest on time) and securities of issuers that are or may become involved in reorganizations, financial restructurings, or bankruptcy (commonly referred to as “distressed debt”). The Fund presently does not intend to invest more than 20% of its net assets (measured at the time of investment) in such defaulted or distressed securities. However, the Fund’s defaulted or distressed debt holdings may exceed this level from time to time if the Fund purchased securities that were not considered in default or distressed at their time of purchase and such securities subsequently become defaulted or distressed. These investment strategies are generally higher risk relative to strategies employed by funds that invest primarily in investment grade municipal bonds.

The Fund may invest in all types of municipal bonds, including general obligation bonds, revenue bonds, municipal leases, and variable rate demand notes. The Fund may invest in both insured and uninsured municipal bonds.

The Fund may invest up to 100% of its net assets in private activity bonds (commonly referred to as “AMT paper”), which are a type of municipal bond that pays interest that is subject to AMT. Although the Fund is permitted to invest up to

20% of its net assets in fixed income securities that pay interest that is subject to regular federal income tax, the Fund presently has no intention of investing in this manner. There is a risk that a bond issued as tax-exempt may be reclassified by the Internal Revenue Service (“IRS”) as taxable. The Fund will not invest more than 25% of its total assets in any industry; however, this limitation does not apply to tax-exempt securities and securities issued by the U.S. Government or its agencies or instrumentalities. Certain types of municipal securities (including general obligation, general appropriation, municipal leases, special assessment, and special tax bonds) are not considered a part of any ‘‘industry’’ for purposes of this industry concentration policy. Therefore, the Fund may invest more than 25% of its total assets in these types of municipal securities. The Fund may invest without limitation in securities of issuers located in a single state, territory, municipality, or region.

The Fund may invest up to 100% of its net assets in inverse floaters (also known as “residual interest bonds”), which are a type of derivative investment that provides leveraged exposure to underlying municipal bonds whose interest payments vary inversely with changes in short-term tax-exempt interest rates. The Fund also may invest in other types of derivatives, such as futures, for non-hedging, hedging, or duration management purposes.

The Fund may invest in individual securities of any maturity or duration. Because the Fund primarily invests in short duration municipal bonds, it is less sensitive to interest rate changes than a fund that focuses on longer duration bonds.

The Fund’s portfolio management team focuses on credit risk analysis, tax exempt income yield, total return potential, interest rate risk, and call protection in managing its portfolio. The Fund may sell a security when the Fund believes the security is less likely to benefit from the current market and economic environment or shows signs of deteriorating fundamentals, among other reasons.

The Fund may deviate from the investment strategy described above for temporary defensive purposes. The Fund may miss certain investment opportunities if defensive strategies are used and thus may not achieve its investment objective.

PRINCIPAL RISKS

As with any investment in a mutual fund, investing in the Fund involves risk, including the risk that you may receive little or no return on your investment. When you redeem your shares, they may be worth more or less than what you paid for them, which means that you may lose a portion or all of the money you invested in the Fund. The principal risks of investing in the Fund, which could adversely affect its performance, include:

· Market Risk: The market values of securities will fluctuate, sometimes sharply and unpredictably, based on overall economic conditions, governmental actions or intervention, market disruptions caused by trade disputes, tariffs or other factors, political developments, and other factors. Prices of equity securities tend to rise and fall more dramatically than those of debt securities.

· Municipal Securities Risk: Municipal securities are subject to the same risks affecting fixed income securities in general. In addition, the prices of municipal securities may be adversely affected by legislative or political changes, tax rulings, judicial action, changes in market and economic conditions, and the fiscal condition of the municipal issuer, including an insolvent municipality filing for bankruptcy. The Fund may be more sensitive to these events and conditions if it invests a substantial portion of its assets in the municipal securities of similar projects (such as those relating to education, health care, housing, transportation, and utilities), in particular types of municipal securities (such as general obligation bonds, private activity bonds, and special tax bonds), or in the securities of issuers located within a single state, municipality, territory (such as Puerto Rico), or geographic area. The market for municipal securities generally is less liquid than other securities markets, which may make it more difficult for the Fund to sell its municipal securities. Nongovernmental users of facilities financed by tax-exempt revenue bonds (e.g., companies in the electric utility and health care industries) may have difficulty making payments on their obligations in the event of an economic downturn. This would negatively affect the valuation of municipal securities issued by such facilities.

· Call Risk: A substantial portion of bonds are “callable,” meaning they give the issuer the right to call or redeem the bonds before maturity. Issuers may call outstanding bonds when there is a decline in interest rates, when credit spreads change, or when the issuer’s credit quality improves. As interest rates decline, these bond issuers may pay off their loans early by buying back the bonds, thus depriving the Fund of above market interest rates.

· Defaulted Bonds Risk: Defaulted bonds are subject to greater risk of loss of income and principal than securities of issuers whose debt obligations are being met. Defaulted bonds are considered speculative with respect to the issuer’s ability to make interest payments and pay its obligations in full. The repayment of defaulted bonds therefore is subject to significant uncertainties, and in some cases, there may be no recovery of repayment. Defaulted bonds may be repaid only after lengthy workout or bankruptcy proceedings, which typically result in only partial recovery of cash payments or an exchange of the defaulted bond for other securities of the issuer or its affiliates.

· Inverse Floater Risk: The Fund’s use of inverse floaters may reduce the Fund’s returns and/or increase the Fund’s volatility. Distributions on inverse floaters are inversely related to short-term municipal bond interest rates. Therefore, distributions paid to the Fund on its inverse floaters will fall when short-term municipal interest rates rise and will rise when short-term municipal interest rates fall. Holders of inverse floaters bear the risk of the fluctuation in value of the issuing trust’s underlying municipal bonds because holders of the floaters have the right to tender their notes back to the trust for payment at par plus accrued interest. This creates effective leverage because the Fund’s net cash investment is significantly less than the value of the underlying bonds. The leverage ratio increases as the value of the inverse floaters becomes a greater proportion of the value of the municipal bonds deposited into the trust.

· Extension Risk: Rising interest rates may cause an issuer to pay off or retire a debt security later than expected, extending the duration of a bond, making it more sensitive to changes in interest rates reducing the bond’s value.

· Interest Rate Risk: As interest rates rise, prices of bonds (including tax-exempt bonds) generally fall, typically causing the Fund’s investments to lose value. Additionally, rising interest rates or lack of market participants may lead to decreased liquidity in fixed income markets. Interest rate changes generally have a more pronounced effect on the market value of fixed-rate instruments, such as corporate bonds, than they have on floating rate instruments, and typically have a greater effect on the price of fixed income securities with longer durations. A wide variety of market factors can cause interest rates to rise, including central bank monetary policy, rising inflation, and changes in general economic conditions.

· Liquidity/Redemption Risk: The Fund may lose money when selling securities at inopportune times to fulfill shareholder redemption requests. The risk of loss may increase depending on the size and frequency of redemption requests, whether the redemption requests occur in times of overall market turmoil or declining prices, and whether the securities the Fund intends to sell have decreased in value or are illiquid. The Fund may be less able to sell illiquid securities at its desired time or price. It may be more difficult for the Fund to value its investments in illiquid securities than more liquid securities.

· State and Territory Risk: From time to time, the Fund may be more exposed to risks affecting a particular state, territory (such as Puerto Rico), municipality, or region. As a result, adverse economic, political, and regulatory conditions affecting a single state, territory, municipality, or region (and their political subdivisions, agencies, instrumentalities, and public authorities) can disproportionately affect the Fund’s performance.