Trust and Estate Law Program Information  

           Friday 8:30-11:30 AM

Estate & Gift Taxes (TX) and Income & Transfer Tax Planning Group (RPTE)

Current Developments. Our panel will review recent developments in federal estate, gift and generation-skipping laws, with a special presentation on the new "exit tax" provisions in the Heroes Earnings Assistance and Relief Tax Act of 2008. Presenters: Leigh-Alexandra Basha, Holland & Knight, McLean, VA; Benjamin G. Carter, Winstead P.C., Dallas, TX; Stacey Delich-Gould, Sullivan & Cromwell LLP, New York, NY.

What Every Tax Advisor Needs to Know About Hedge Funds.  Individuals, corporations, and non-profits are increasingly investing in hedge funds and need to understand the tax and other risks such investments may carry.  This presentation discusses how hedge funds are structured, the myriad of income, partnership, international, estate & gift tax considerations, the interplay of the constructive sale & straddle rules and the taxation of financial derivatives, along with the specific investment risks that are inherent in hedge funds.  Presenter:  Paul S. Lee, Bernstein Global Wealth Management, New York, NY.

Community Property – Community Property:  Dabblers Beware! This panel will address pitfalls that can befall both community property and non-community property practitioners, such as the downside to transmuting community property to fund separate GRATs, how life insurance trusts should be handled, as well as suggestions to those lawyers in non-community property states who might "dabble" in community property matters (including, by accident, when clients buy a vacation home in a community property state), or have clients who move back and forth between community property and non-community property states.  Presenters: Philip Hayes, Bessemer Trust, San Francisco, CA; Max Gutierrez, Morgan Lewis & Bockius, LLP, San Francisco, CA

Unanticipated Consequences and Fallout from Tax Planning Structures.  Tax planners create a variety of charitable and non-charitable trusts, partnerships, limited liability companies and other entities, but what happens after they are implemented?  The speakers will address some of the unanticipated consequences that surround "problematic assets", such as ILITs, overfunded UTMA accounts, QPRTs, concentrated positions, UBIT and PFIC issues, partial liquidations and unproductive property.  Presenters:  Susan Porter, U.S. Trust, Bank of America Private Wealth Management, New York , NY ; Amy E. Heller, Weil, Gotshal & Manges , New York , NY; Philip B. Feldman, Coblentz, Patch, Duffy & Bass, San Francisco , CA .

Friday 1:45-2:45 PM

Litigation, Ethics and Malpractice Group

Navigating the Trustee’s Duty to Disclose. Examining the relationship between disclosure to trust beneficiaries and fiduciary risk, and a review of recent surcharge litigation involving disclosure. Defining the scope of the disclosure obligation under common law and statutory codification, with a focus on the Uniform Trust Code. Making effective use of required disclosures under the Uniform Trust Code. Approaches to drafting in and out of disclosure rules. Presenters: William I. Sanderson, McGuireWoods LLP, Richmond, VA; Gerard Brew, McCarter & English, LLP, Newark, NJ.

Saturday 8:15-9:45 AM

            Who Trumps Whom: When Can Taxpayers Ignore IRS Guidance

Carol A. Cantrell, Moderator, Briggs & Veselka Co., Bellaire (Houston),TX; The Honorable Mark V. Holmes, U.S. Tax Court, Washington, D.C. Professor Mitchell Gans, Hofstra University School of Law, Hempstead, NY; Jasper (Jack) Taylor, III, Fulbright & Jaworski, Houston, TX

Saturday 10:00 AM- 12:00 Noon

     Value Judgments:  Judicial, Appraiser’s and Taxpayer’s Perspective on Valuations of
Family Limited Partnerships

Stephanie Loomis-Price, Moderator, Baker Botts, LLP, Houston, TX; John F. Bergner, Winstead PC, Dallas, TX; Alex Howard, HFBE, Houston, TX; the Honorable David Laro, Judge, US Tax Court, Washington, DC; James D. Spratt, King & Spalding, LLP, Atlanta, GA

Saturday 2:00-4:00 PM
     
Cross–Border Income and Estate Tax Planning for Closely Held Businesses and their Owners

Jeffrey Rubinger, Moderator, Holland & Knight, LLP, Fort Lauderdale, FL; Leigh-Alexandra Basha, Holland & Knight, McLean, VA