Overview
Members of McDermott’s Private Client Group presented at the 59th Heckerling Institute on Estate Planning, the nation’s leading educational conference for estate planning professionals.
Ellen K. Harrison spoke on Taking Care of Business: New Approaches to Business Succession Planning: The well-publicized use of a purpose trust to own the voting shares of Patagonia in order to preserve the founder’s mission of protecting the environment has stimulated interest in alternative ownership structures for succession planning. Similar structures have been used for decades in Europe but are relatively unknown and untested in the U.S. Ellen Harrison discussed the unique legal features and drafting challenges posed by purpose trusts.
David A. Baker spoke on Bulletproofing Your Estate Plan: Testamentary documents are now fluid, modifiable and manipulatable, notwithstanding testator’s intent. Doctrines, such as Decanting, Non-Judicial Settlement Agreements, Guardianship-Created Documents and Litigation Strategies, provide that testamentary plans will be modified pre-and post-death without input from the testator. Bulletproofing presents strategies and tools to lock in intent, notwithstanding these new devices.
M. Read Moore spoke on It’s English to Me: Non-U.S. Trust Law for U.S. Lawyers (or the Real Reason We Had a Revolution): Many U.S. clients are beneficiaries of trusts administered in countries other than the United States. Non-U.S. trust law and administrative practices in other countries, however, differ considerably from U.S. trust law. This presentation addressed important differences between non-U.S. trust law and U.S. trust law to allow participants to better advise clients on tax and non-tax implications of being a beneficiary of a non-U.S. trust.
Scott A. Bowman spoke on Preppers Welcome! Jurisdictional Diversification for the Apprehensive American: With concerns about inflation, growing national debt and the stability of our political system, many wealthy Americans want to hedge. This presentation explored the paths and challenges to jurisdictional diversification for Americans looking to move themselves and their assets abroad. Because when the “stuff” hits the fan, it’s already too late.
M. Read Moore spoke on The Foreign Trust A-Level: Understanding Non-U.S. Trust Law and How it Affects U.S. Clients: This session explored typical provisions in non-U.S. trust documents and administrative practices in non-U.S. jurisdictions that differ from U.S. trust law and practice with experienced trust law practitioners from outside the United States.
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