ACTEC Fellows

This session will explore the challenges that lawyers serving as trustees face, focusing on the practical aspects of organizing your practice to allow for fiduciary service, and whether "the juice is worth the squeeze" for you.

This program provides a technical overview of pre-transaction planning strategies relevant to the sale of closely held and family-owned businesses. The session will examine key legal, tax, and structuring considerations that arise prior to a liquidity event. The program will cover the mechanics and planning implications of ESOP transactions, the use of MSO structures in certain industries, and the...

Even the most seasoned fiduciary can be haunted by the risks inherent in estate and trust administration. This program follows the story of Linda Lawyer, who after a long day battling towering files and thorny legal issues drifts into a restless sleep. As Linda's mind wanders, the closet door creaks open and routine files morph into professional nightmares. Through Linda's dreams, we uncover the l...

The end of life is just the beginning for many required processes and decisions. This panel presentation will guide you through the steps when a spouse dies, from understanding the survivor's grief process and immediate actions that must be considered, to establishing the administration process, determining the survivor's legal rights and obligations, identifying tax issues, allocations and other...

From key general considerations when spouses are divorcing, to issues dividing property, to determining if trust assets are accessible or off-limits, to hidden tax traps, to maneuvering among significant state law variances, to determining who owns genetic material, to planning opportunities before the divorce is final, to ethical and representation issues for attorneys representing married couple...

This panel will provide practitioner insights regarding lifetime and testamentary planning considerations for married couples, including when representation should be joint versus separate, when to use SLATs, SLANTs, QTIPs and CRTs, issues surrounding community property, and what provisions should be included in contemplation of potential divorce. There's so much to love with these lifetime and te...

What should the various stake holders consider when planning for an upcoming marriage? This panel will explore the emotional considerations, ethical issues, and practical approaches to potential consequences for families with a new marriage. Prenuptial agreements will be considered, along with creative work arounds or by drafting trust provisions and side wishes to encourage prenuptial agreements....

Our panel reviews topics such as: How to protect your searches from prying eyes (aka, how to protect privileges) The impact on billing rates when using AI • Implementing AI in a safe way into your practice – confidentiality and privilege • Avoiding work slop – using AI in an effective and efficient manner • How to deal with clients who use AI to do their own estate and tax research • Guidelines fo...

The Hot Topics Program features a dynamic blend of federal tax and state fiduciary law developments during the past year. Among the topics addressed are: • The impact of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, H.R. 1, including the 2/37th cutback on itemized deductions, and ACTEC's comments thereto; • Estate planning in light of the permanent estate and gift tax exclusion amount of $15 million (subject to...

Equity compensation offers great opportunity—and great complexity. This session explores the evolving landscape of executive pay, including stock options, restricted stock, and deferred compensation arrangements, and examines practical income and estate tax planning strategies to help executives (and their advisors) unlock value, manage timing, and preserve wealth.

Estate tax apportionment is easy in theory but can be unforgiving in practice creating a number of challenges and, if you are not careful, unanticipated consequences. This session will provide a practical view on how apportionment using different formulas and concepts will significantly impact trust funding and potentially the entire estate plan. The presentation will focus on the choice of fundin...

This program will review the recent court decisions and policy positions of the Trump administration and its interpretation and enforcement of federal civil rights laws, including potential impacts on exempt status under IRC section 501(c)(3). The panel's discussion will focus on the impact of these decisions and policy positions on existing restricted funds, such as scholarship funds, with criter...

Nothing is certain except death and taxes… and disasters. Although one never knows when disaster will strike, one can prepare for it, plan for ways to persist through it, and learn about the ways charitable resources can be provided to disaster relief victims. The panelists will discuss pre-disaster planning ideas with a focus on insurers' responsibilities and the pitfalls of homeowners insurance...

In the high-stakes world of fiduciary litigation, timing is everything. File timely or your claim may be forever barred. Will contests can turn on periods of limitations, repose, and notice requirements. After-discovered wills pose their own unique problems. Trust contests may face a hard statute of limitations, or extend for decades, absent being torpedoed by equitable doctrines. And claims again...

This panel will explore foreign trusts in the context of US tax and estate planning. The panelists will use case studies to ladder from fundamentals to intermediate and advanced applications, with the intent of domestic planners deepening their understanding of cross-border planning and cross-border specialists finding a challenge or two.

The term "family office" has become pervasive, but what does it even mean? What are the choices for families who think they might need or want a family office? This program will provide an overview of various family office designs and the tax and non-tax considerations for each. The presenters will provide a framework for advisors to use when helping clients determine the best option to achieve th...

When an elder is relocated across state lines amid family conflict, the result is often a high-stakes legal brawl. This session explores how contested guardianships intersect with interstate jurisdiction and attempts to assert pre-mortem control over vulnerable adults. With a focus on competency—especially in the execution of powers of attorney and other estate planning documents—you'll hear from...

Neurodiversity: Leveling Up Our Perspective