Avi Z. Kestenbaum, Co-Chair of Meltzer Lippe’s Trusts & Estates practice group shared with WealthManagement.com some of the key takeaways from this year’s Heckerling Conference.
Avi Kestenbaum: Succession Planning and Jurisdictional Diversification
In the session, “Taking Care of Business: New Approaches to Business Succession Planning,” the co-speaker, Natalie Reitman-White, discussed using special purpose trusts to own active businesses and as a tool in succession planning. She’s very experienced, thoughtful and well-spoken and even used the details of some of her clients’ success stories in this area as real-world examples. I think all attorneys who represent substantial businesses and their owners with succession planning should at least consider the merits of using special purpose trusts. Some of my existing clients are also using these trusts to protect and ensure the founder’s mission and purpose. It’s an important and growing topic, and I’m glad it is receiving more attention than it has in the past.
In the session, “Preppers Welcome! Jurisdictional Diversification for the Apprehensive American,” the speaker, Scott Bowman, once again did an excellent job covering a myriad of U.S. tax, trust, jurisdictional and compliance issues for U.S. people who are setting up trusts, companies and possibly themselves outside of the United States. The presentation was very clear, amusing and organized regarding some of the most complex topics in the estate-planning field. This seemed to be almost a continuation of his presentation at Heckerling two years ago on international estate and tax planning. For anyone who’s already practicing in this space, like me, the reminders on the international trust and tax complexities and practical pointers were helpful. For practitioners who want to learn how to practice international estate planning, I encourage them to listen to both of his presentations two or three times and review the written materials.
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