Irrevocable Trusts in Practice: Drafting Strategies, Sample Provisions, Key Language, and Fiduciary Risk Management (Including 1hr. on Ethics)

Jonathan G. Blattmarchr | Pioner Wealth Partners LLC

Jonathan G. Blattmachr is Director of Estate Planning for Peak Trust Company (formerly Alaska Trust Company) and a Director/Principal of Pioneer Wealth Partners, LLC in a boutique wealth advisory firm located in Chicago and New York. He is a Principal at Interactive Legal Services Management, LLC, serving as its Editor-in-Chief and Co-Author of its cornerstone products, Wealth Transfer Planning™ and Elder Law Planning™ and a retired member of Milbank (formerly Milbank Tweed Hadley & McCloy LLP) and of the New York, Alaska and in California bars. He is recognized as one of the most creative trusts and estates lawyers in the country and is listed as The Best Lawyers in America in. He graduated from Columbia University School of Law, cum laude, where he was recognized as a Harlan Fiske Stone Scholar.

He has written and lectured extensively on estate and trust taxation and charitable giving and is author or co-author of nine books and more than 500 articles on estate planning and tax topics. Jonathan was on active duty in the US Army from 1970 to 1972, rising to the rank of Captain and was awarded the Army Commendation Medal. He is an instrument rated land and seaplane pilot and a licensed hunting and fishing guide in the Town of Southampton, New York.

L. Paul Hood Jr. | Paul Hood Services

Paul is an author, speaker and consultant on tax, estate and charitable planning. A native of Louisiana (and a double LSU Tiger), Paul Hood obtained his undergraduate and law degrees from Louisiana State University and an LL.M. in taxation from Georgetown University Law Center before settling down to practice tax and estate planning law in the New Orleans area. Paul also spent almost six years running the planned giving operations for two higher-end state institution foundations.

Paul has taught at the University of New Orleans, Northeastern University, The University of Toledo College of Law and Ohio Northern University Pettit College of Law. Paul has authored or co-authored nine books and over 200 professional articles on estate, charitable and tax planning and business valuation. Paul’s ninth book, Yours, Mine & Ours: Estate Planning for People in Blended or Stepfamilies, is now out. His website is www.paulhoodservices.com.

A “recovering tax lawyer,” Paul’s often quoted in publications that include Forbes magazine, USA TODAY, and The Wall Street Journal, and he’s been a frequent contributor to Leimberg Information Services, Inc. since its inception, Paul is a highly sought-after speaker and consultant because of his innate ability to see through the complexity and explain difficult and even boring subjects in understandable and entertaining language with his insightful and biting sense of humor, and he minces no words in doing so. Along the way, Paul’s been a father, husband, uncle, Godfather, lawyer, coach, mentor, trustee, member, director, president, partner, trust protector, director of planned giving, expert witness, agent, professor, judge, juror, respondent, and a defendant, and he uses his experience in these myriad roles to guide others.

I’ve written and spoken about legal ethics for over 30 years at many conferences, including the NYU Tax Institute.

Session I – Trusts and Taxes: Drafting Strategies, Sample Provisions, and Key Language for Modern Estate Plans | 12:30pm – 2:10pm

• First, it will cover some of the tax advantages and disadvantages of using trusts to safeguard property and build wealth
  Second, it will briefly focus on protection of a family’s wealth by using trust
• Third, it will discuss how flexibility in disposition of wealth is of supreme importance in carrying out a family’s goals for its members, keeping in mind that attitudes toward diversification in our ever-changing world are developing more quickly than ever before in human history

Break | 1:30pm – 1:40pm

• How to draft a revocable trust
• Sample trust documents
• Key language that should be included in trusts
• Common issues that arise when trusts are not drafted properly

Session II – Drafting and Administering Irrevocable Trusts: Fiduciary Risk, Contested Matters, and the Road to Resolution | 2:10pm – 3:10pm

• A synopsis of curated considerations during each phase of an irrevocable trust
• A review of the types of state law fiduciary duties that the trustee of an irrevocable trust must observe
• Selected issues that a trustee must face in a contested trust

Break | 3:10pm – 3:20pm

Session III – Legal Ethics in Irrevocable Trusts| 3:20pm – 4 :20pm

• A synopsis of curated considerations that arise during the formation and administration of an irrevocable trust for complex families, e.g., so-called “blended families.” and will address pertinent rules in the Model Rules of Professional Conduct
• (MRPC), including without limitation, MRPC Rules 1.1, 1.2, 1.7-1.9, 4.3, and 5.1
• A review of the types of state law fiduciary duties that the trustee of an irrevocable trust must observe
• Selected issues involving the oversight of all fiduciaries of an irrevocable trust, including agents under the property powers of attorney, trustees (including co-trustees) and trust protectors