Estate Planning In Depth – Litigation, Counseling, Trusts, Taxes, and More (CA)

What You Will Learn

Estate Planning Litigation – options and strategies

• Laying a foundation of Trustor’s competence and /Issues of competency
• Compensation agreements with family and friends who assist the Trustor
• Avoiding conflicts in legal representation as the “family lawyer”
• Management of assets by successor Trustor/attorney in fact after Trustor is incapacitated
• Disqualified transferees generally
• Attorney client privilege looking from the other side – on exceptions after settlers’/testator’s death – when there is a dispute

Counseling, Corporate Trustees and Ethics – where to get it right 

• Business Succession Planning
• Estate Planning and Ethics
• Advantages/disadvantages of naming corporate trustees or private professional fiduciaries as administrators vs. family members or friends

Strategies, Options, Changes within our Traditional Estate Planning World

• Grantor Trusts
• Planning for valuation discounts
• Business structures
• Inter-Vivos Gifts, GRATs and Sales to Grantor Trusts
• Qualified Personal Residence Trusts (QPRTs)
• Private annuities and SCINs
• Charitable Remainder Trusts and Charitable Annuity Trusts
• Private Foundations versus Donor Advised Funds

Tax Planning

• Advanced Estate Tax Planning
  • Impact of the Woelbing and Davidson audits
  • Need to file gift tax returns for fair market value transactions
• Intersection Of Income Tax And Estate Tax Planning
  • Completed Gift DINGs/NINGs
  • Parent’s purchase of low basis assets from grantor trust
  • Charitable LLCs
  • FLPs and Section 754 elections
• Estate planning for the terminally ill
  • Generational split dollar
  • T-CLATs

Trust Protectors

• What problem are we trying to solve?
  • Need for flexibility and efficiency
  • Long term (dynasty) trusts
  • Specialized expertise
  • Tax optimization
  • Asset protection
• History of Trust Protectors
  • California and other state authorization statutes
  • Universal Trust Code
  • Case law
• Trust Protector powers
  • Public policy
  • Specific powers typically given to Trust Protectors
  • Nature of the powers – fiduciary or not
  • Duties – proactive or reactive
  • Trust Protector risks and liability
  • Selecting a Trust Protector and successor
  • Best practices

Property Tax Reassessment Traps and Exclusions

• Change in Ownership
• Life estates
• Parent-Child Exclusion
• Grandparent-Grandchild Exclusion
• Spousal Exclusion
• Proportional Interest Transfer Exclusion
• Change in Control Rule

International Estate Planning

• Estate planning for nonresidents with US connections
  • US residents with foreign beneficiaries or assets
  • Nonresidents with US beneficiaries or assets
  • Tax treatment of foreign trusts & companies
  • Pre-arrival planning for nonresidents moving to the US
  • Expatriation planning for US residents leaving the US
  • Offshore asset protection
  • Offshore accounts, FATCA, and amnesty programs
  • Intersection of Asset Protection Planning and Estate Tax Planning
    • Copy of our article from California Trusts & Estates Quarterly “Asset Protection Planning: Attorneys As Advisors And Targets”, Vol. 18, Issue 2 (2012)

Testimonials

“I am very satisfied. I was really looking an advanced estate planning class and I was really happy I attended.” – Elizabeth Roberson, Esq.

“Very satisfied, answered questions, panel very responsive.” – Frances L. Martin, Esq.

“Very good conference covering relevant topics with strong but accessible speakers.” – Garrett Barlow, Esq.

“This program had a good balance of drafting, litigation, and tax.” – Kate Henderson, Esq.

“All presenters did a very good job.” – Philip M. Flanigan, Esq.

“All speakers were well-prepared and excellent.”

“Very helpful.”

Faculty

Larry Dushkes, Esq.
Certified Specialist – Estate Planning, Trust and Probate Law State Bar of California Board of Legal Specialization
Dushkes Law Corporation

Larry S. Dushkes is a principal of Dushkes Law Corporation. Mr. Dushkes is a member of the California State Bar (and a certified specialist in Estate Planning, Trust & Probate Law) and is admitted to practice before all state and federal courts in California, as well as the U.S. Tax Court. Mr. Dushkes is a graduate of Stanford University (A.B. 1979), which he attended on a National Merit scholarship, is also a graduate of the UCLA School of Law (J.D. 1982), and has taught as an Adjunct Professor at Golden Gate University’s Graduate School of Taxation.

Mr. Dushkes specializes in estate planning, probate and will contests, and also practices in the area of business planning and litigation, and federal, state and local tax planning and controversies. Mr. Dushkes is a past member of the Executive Committee of the Trust and Estates Section of the Los Angeles County Bar Association, serves on the Litigation Committee and the Ethics Committee of the Trusts and Estates section of the State Bar of California, served as co-chair of the Property Tax Committee of the State Bar of California, served twice as chairman of the State and Local Tax Committee of the Taxation Section of the Los Angeles County Bar Association, and is a past chairman of the Tax Section of the Young Lawyers Division of the American Bar Association.  

Abby L.T. Feinman, Esq.
Partner
Katten Muchin Rosenman LLP

Abby L.T. Feinman is head of the Los Angeles Trusts and Estates Practice. Ms. Feinman’s broad and dynamic national practice centers around private client matters focusing on sophisticated tax planning for individuals, charitable planning, post-death administration and controversies concerning trusts and estates. Her clients include wealthy individuals, families with bicoastal and global connections, real estate entrepreneurs, business owners, art collectors, corporate fiduciaries, individual fiduciaries, individuals with family members having special needs and private foundations.

Ms. Feinman is active in the community and devotes significant time to Cedars Sinai Medical Center, where she serves as a member of the Executive Cabinet to the Board of Governors and chairs the Young Governors section of the Board. She also serves on the Board of Trustees for the Jewish Community Foundation in Los Angeles.

Ms. Feinman has been selected for inclusion in Southern California Super Lawyers for Estate Planning and Trusts (2006–2013), and named to The Best Lawyers in America (2010–2013).

Ms. Feinman is a frequent lecturer on various topics, including tax planning opportunities using private annuity sales, supercharging QPRTs, and tax and transfer planning for art collectors. She has given speeches and educational seminars at and for international conferences, family office events, estate planning councils, banking institutions, trust offices, the California State Bar Association, museums and the LA Art Show.

Ms. Feinman earned her undergraduate degree (BS) from The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania, and her law degree (JD) from Northwestern University School of Law. She is licensed to practice in California, New York, Connecticut and Florida.

Bruce Givner, Esq.

KFB Rice LLP

Mr. Givner has been practicing tax law for almost five decades concentrating on income tax planning, estate tax planning, sophisticated retirement plans, asset protection planning, charitable planning, capital gain planning, tax litigation, and the representation of high net worth and high income families, as well as individuals and their closely held corporations.

He is the author of close to 150 articles in professional journals. He is also the author, co-author or editor of 18 chapters in various CEB treatises.

Bruce represented the prevailing taxpayers in L&B Pipe & Supply Co., Inc. v. Commissioner, T.C. Memo 1994-187 and has been cited favorably by both the U.S. Tax Court (Judge Nims in Fujinon Optical, 76 T.C. 499 (footnote 10) and the California Court of Appeals (Judge Lui in FTB v. Safeco, 164 CA 3rd 526.  He has been AV rated by Martindale-Hubbell for 3 decades and is a SuperLawyer.

Daniel B. Herbert, Esq.
Partner/Certified Legal Specialist in Estate Planning, Trust & Probate Law
Manning & Kass, Ellrod, Ramirez, Trester LLP

Daniel B. Herbert is a partner in the law firm of Manning & Kass, Ellrod, Ramirez, Trester LLP, where he has been head of the firm’s trust and estate litigation group since 2005. Previously he was a partner with McKay, Meyer and Herbert, APC, where he was in charge of that firm’s trust and estate litigation for eight years. He has successfully litigated many contested trust and estate matters, including at trial and on appeal, including winning a .4 million judgment at trial and a .1 million appeal in the same day. He is certified by the California Board of Legal Specialization as a specialist in estate planning, trust, and probate law.

Mr. Herbert has made several presentations to attorneys including to the American Bar Association at the 2009 Annual Symposia of its Real Property, Trust & Estate Section in Washington DC (regarding trust and probate litigation); the State Bar of California at its 2014 Summit in Newport Beach (Litigated to Death: How to Sue, Defend, and Settle with the Dead); the Los Angeles County Bar at its Trusts & Estates Symposium in 2015 (ethics for the probate bar); and post-death litigation presentations to civil litigation and trial attorneys in Los Angeles (broadcast live to five other cities) in 2012, 2016.

His presentations for Pincus Professional Education include specialist-certification courses in 2013, 2015; Trust & Estate Boot Camp in 2014; Probate practical course in 2016; Advanced Estate Planning seminar for complicated estates in 2016; and Probate Litigation 101 in 2017 & 2019.

He authored Trustees Face Big Liability published in the Insurance Journal on December 20, 2010, and Last Beneficiary Standing: Identifying Proper Parties in Fiduciary Litigation published in the ABA e/Report in June 2009.

Mr. Herbert is admitted to practice law in the state and federal courts of California (1990), Illinois (1994), and New York (2002), and before the Seventh and Ninth Circuit Courts of Appeal. He graduated cum laude from Whittier Law School in 1990 with many honors and distinctions (Law Review, Dean’s List, Honor Roll, Dean’s Merit Scholarship, and several American Jurisprudence Awards). He is a member of the trust and estate sections of the American Bar Association, California Lawyer’s Association, Illinois State Bar Association, New York State Bar Association, Los Angeles County Bar Association, and Pasadena Bar Association.

Julia C. McBride, Esq.
Principal
McBride Law Group, P.C.

Julia C. McBride obtained her law degree from UCLA School of Law and has assisted clients and other attorneys in Los Angeles with estate and trust litigation, probate and trust administration, wills and trusts, and conservatorships and guardianships since 1996. In 2009, Ms. McBride became one of fewer than 1,000 California Certified Specialists in Estate Planning, Probate & Trust Law. She obtained her Business Administration/Accounting degree from CSUN, a top accounting program, and has passed the Uniform CPA Examination. Ms. McBride has extensive practical experience and education in both avoiding conflicts and successfully litigating when appropriate.

Edgar Saenz, Esq.
Principal/Certified Legal Specialist in Estate Planning, Trust & Probate Law
Law Office of Edgar Saenz

Edgar Saenz is a Los Angeles estate planning attorney and graduate of Stanford Law School.   He is a member of several bar trust and estate sections.  He serves on numerous community and professional boards, including past president of the Westchester Rotary Club (2013-2014) board member of the LAX Area Chamber of Commerce.  Edgar is rated AV by Martindale Hubbell.

Edgar has performed pro bono legal services for the Los Angeles Center for Law and Justice and other nonprofits. 

He has been a judge pro tem with the Los Angeles County Superior Court.

John Roney Stubbs, Esq.
Certified Legal Specialist in Estate Planning, Trust and Probate Law
Law Office of John Roney Stubbs

John Stubbs is an attorney focused on Estate Planning, Probate, and Trust Administration, practicing in Manhattan Beach, California. He is a Certified Specialist in Estate Planning, Trust and Probate Law by the State Bar of California Board of Legal Specialization and

has been licensed to practice law in California for 30 years. He was the Chief Information Officer (CIO) for Sony Pictures Entertainment. Prior to Sony, John was a partner at PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) advising global clients in the entertainment industry for over 18 years.

John Stubbs earned a bachelor of science degree in Physics from St. Mary’s College, California; a masters of business administration (MBA) from University of California at Los Angeles, and a JD from Loyola Law School. In 1985, he became a Certified Public Accountant (Illinois) and has been a member of the California State Bar since 1984. He proudly served as a Naval Aviator flying the A-6 Intruder deployed aboard USS Midway during the Vietnam conflict.

As part of the estate planning process, John Stubbs prepare documents for clients and work to educate them on the importance of titling assets to ensure their estate planning documents work the way they intend. His goal is to make this process as accessible, efficient and streamlined as possible so that individuals are more motivated to develop and complete their plan, and families do not have to deal with the fallout from a lack of planning.

In addition to creating estate plans, he works in the probate arena and assists families in implementing plans when loved ones pass away, and in setting up guardianships for minors, individuals with special needs, and individuals who can no longer manage their own affairs.

In order to stay in-tune with the latest trends and developments in Estate Planning, John Stubbs is an active member of WealthCounsel, a national community of top estate planning professionals committed to the highest standard of practice excellence. This collaborative organization, along with attending seminars taught by nationally recognized thought leaders, keeps John Stubbs on the leading edge of the newest estate planning ideas and approaches.

Fees

Audio Course and Materials Package – Download or CD: $425

CDs: plus $10 shipping and, in CA, sales tax.

CLE Credit

CA General:  This program is approved for 7.5 units of general CLE in California.
CA Certified Legal Specialist:  This program is approved for 7.5 hours of Legal Specialization Credit in Estate Planning, Trust and Probate Law.

This program is approved for 2.5 hours of Legal Specialization Credit in Taxation Law.

• This includes 1.0 hour in sub-field D (Real Estate Income Tax) and 1.5 hours in sub-field H (Estate, Gift Tax and Estate Planning).

This program is approved for CLE in the states listed above.  Upon request, Pincus Pro Ed will provide any information an attorney needs to support their application for CLE approval in other states other than what is listed above.

Terms and Policies

Recording policy: No audio or video recording of any program is permitted.

Seminar Cancellations: Should you be unable to attend for any reason, please inform us in writing no later than 14 days prior to the event and a credit voucher will be issued. If you prefer, a refund, less a $50 non-refundable deposit, will be issued. No refunds or credits will be given for cancellations received within 14 days of an event. However, if you notify us within 14 days of an event, and wish to convert your in-person attendance registration to an Audio CD package (with handout), we can do so. A small additional shipping charge, and sales tax in CA, will be incurred. No shipping charge is incurred for downloads. We will also issue a voucher for the amount paid if you notify us within 14 days and prefer not to have the audio recording.

Substitutions may be made at any time.

Webinars, Tele-seminars and Webcast Cancellations: Once log-in codes and passwords are issued for a webinar, tele-seminars or webcasts, a refund is not possible. If for any reason you cannot attend the event after you have received the codes, we will automatically convert your registration to an instant streaming/instant download or CD format and provide you with the information you need to access the recording after the program concludes and the recording is available.  Conversions to CD require a $8.50 shipping fee, and in CA, 9% sales tax.

Downloads/CDs/DVDs – Refund policy:

Downloads are non-returnable/non-refundable once purchased and received. Tapes, CDs and DVDs are returnable for a full refund or replacement if defective, within 90 days of purchase.

Reminder: The room temperature at hotels and other seminar locations are notoriously hard to control. Please bring a sweater or jacket in case it gets cold and/or layer as if you are going to the movies so you are comfortable.