California just passed a directed trust statute! In this episode of Trust Me!, Michael Rosen-Prinz and David Khanjyan will go over the basic structure of a directed trust, along with the specifics of California’s new directed trust statute.

About Our Guests:
Michael Rosen-Prinz is a partner at Loeb & Loeb LLP (Los Angeles office). Michael maintains a broad trusts and estate practice, including wealth transfer planning, planning for family governance and business succession, cryptocurrency and QSBS planning, and estate, gift and generation-skipping transfer tax matters. Michael also has deep experience forming and operating single family offices and private trust companies; advising on governance, succession, tax, regulatory and operational issues. In addition, Michael devotes a substantial portion of his practice to cross-border planning for domestic and international families. In this area, he advises clients on foreign trusts, pre-immigration planning and expatriation, as well as inbound and outbound investments and compliance matters related to structuring investment vehicles in the U.S. and internationally. Michael is also a member of TEXCOM. Michael can be reached at: [email protected]

David Khanjyan is an associate at Loeb & Loeb LLP (Los Angeles office). He advises clients on the domestic and international aspects of income, estate and gift tax planning. He works with U.S. and non-U.S. individuals, families, trustees and businesses with multijurisdictional issues to structure tax-efficient plans. David is a member of the Pro Bono Committee and helps orchestrate various pro bono projects throughout the firm. He also is a member of the Armenian Professional Society and was a graduate editor of the Tax Law Review at NYU School of Law. David can be reached at: [email protected]

About Our Host: 
Host Anna Soliman is Trust Counsel and Managing Director for Fiduciary Trust International of California out of the Los Angeles Office. Prior to joining Fiduciary Trust International, Anna was an estate tax attorney for the Internal Revenue Service and also worked in private practice, specializing in estate planning and trust administration for ultrahigh net worth individuals. She is also a TEXCOM member and is involved with the Fiduciary Income Tax Section of the American Bar Association

Thank you for listening to Trust Me!

Trust Me is Produced by Foley Marra Studios
Edited by Cat Hammons and Todd Gajdusek

In this episode of Trust Me!, Kristin Yokomoto discusses ethical considerations in the estate planning world. She covers issues relating to engagement letters, conflicts, communication, capacity and more.

About Our Guest:

Kristin Yokomoto is a partner at Baker & Hostetler LLP in Costa Mesa, California and focuses on tax and estate planning for high-net-worth individuals, trust administration and probate. She is a Fellow of the American College of Trust and Estate Counsel and the American Bar Association. Kristin is a member of the Executive Committee of the California Lawyer Association’s Trusts and Estates Section and the Orange County Bar Association Professionalism and Ethics Committee. She is a Certified Specialist in Estate Planning, Trust and Probate Law with the California Bar Association of Legal Specialization. Kristin recently published an article on the Trusts and Estates Mediation and the Role of the Mediator for the Trust and Estates Quarterly and is earning an LL.M. in Dispute Resolution.

About Our Host:
Host Anna Soliman is Trust Counsel and Managing Director for Fiduciary Trust International of California out of the Los Angeles Office. Prior to joining Fiduciary Trust International, Anna was an estate tax attorney for the Internal Revenue Service and also worked in private practice, specializing in estate planning and trust administration for ultrahigh net worth individuals. She is also a TEXCOM member and is a Vice-Chair of the Fiduciary Income Tax Section of the American Bar Association

Thank you for listening to Trust Me!

Trust Me is Produced by Foley Marra Studios
Edited by Cat Hammons and Todd Gajdusek

Clients have grown to be more charitably inclined and want to incorporate charitable giving as part of their estate plan. In this episode, we discuss the basics of charitable planning, as we review the ABCs of those great acronyms: the CRUTs, CRATs, and CLATs.

About Our Guest:
Amy Takeuchi Wanlass is a Senior Wealth Advisor for Northern Trust based in their Pasadena office. Amy has over a decade of experience in delivering estate planning and tax advice, as well as financial planning services. Amy works with individuals and their families on complex wealth transfer strategies, estate and income tax planning, and charitable planning goals.

Prior to joining Northern Trust, Amy was with Wells Fargo Bank, N.A., as a Senior Wealth Planner. Amy was also previously a practicing trusts and estates attorney at nationally recognized law firms including Venable LLP and Mitchell Silberberg and Knupp LLP.

Amy can be reached at: [email protected]

About Our Host:
Host Anna Soliman is Trust Counsel and Managing Director for Fiduciary Trust International of California out of the Los Angeles Office. Prior to joining Fiduciary Trust International, Anna was an estate tax attorney for the Internal Revenue Service and also worked in private practice, specializing in estate planning and trust administration for ultrahigh net worth individuals. She is also a member of the Trust and Estates Section of the California Lawyers Association and is a Vice-Chair of the Fiduciary Income Tax Section of the American Bar Association.

Thank you for listening to Trust Me!

Trust Me is Produced by Foley Marra Studios
Edited by Cat Hammons and Todd Gajdusek

What must be, and what should be included, by the trustee of a trust in an accounting? And, who is entitled to receive what kind of information? In this episode, our guest Denise Riley discusses the details of what is required in an accounting. 

 About Our Guest: 

Denise Riley is the Senior Fiduciary Officer of the West Region in the San Francisco office of Northern Trust.  In addition to being the fiduciary practice leader, she is responsible for the development and implementation of fiduciary strategies to serve the needs of Northern’ s private clients. Denise has broad estate planning and fiduciary experience.

 Prior to her career at Northern Trust, she practiced law, specializing in tax, estate and charitable planning, estate and trust administration, and tax controversy, most recently at Orrick, Herrington and Sutcliffe. She also headed the Northern California fiduciary practice at U.S. Trust and served as the Chief Fiduciary Officer at Morgan Stanley Trust Company.

 She is a member of the State Bar of California and American Bar Association, where she has been active in several estate planning and taxation committees. She is past president of the San Francisco Area Women Tax Lawyers, and has written and spoken on a variety of tax and estate planning topics

 About Our Host:  

 Erika Gasaway is a shareholder at Hopkins & Carley, a premier trust and estate planning, administration, and litigation firm in downtown San Jose and Redwood Shores, California.  Erika represents clients in trust and estate disputes such as trust contests, will disputes, and enforcing trusts at all stages from pre-litigation counseling and negotiations all the way through trial or settlement. She is a member of the Trust and Estates Section of the California Lawyers Association and several other associations for estate panning and professional fiduciaries.  She can be reached at [email protected]  or via Linked In. 

Thank you for listening to Trust Me!

Trust Me is Produced by Foley Marra Studios
Edited by Cat Hammons and Todd Gajdusek

A revocable trust is an essential part of an estate plan in California. And when clients ask why they need a revocable trust, our answer is always: to avoid probate! We know that probate is time consuming and costly, but have you ever wondered how our system came to be? In this episode of Trust Me!, Anne Rudolph and Ralph Hughes discuss their recent article published in the Trusts & Estates Quarterly -- The Rise of Revocable Trusts in California.

About Our Guests:

Ralph E. Hughes is a founding Shareholder of Hughes and Pizzuto, APC focusing on Probate and Trust Administration, Probate and Trust Litigation, and related mediation. Ralph received his law degree from the University of California, Berkeley in 1976. Shortly thereafter, he moved to San Diego. Since that time, he has been involved in all aspects of probate, estate planning, trust and probate administration, and related litigation. He is a member of the American College of Trust and Estate Counsel (ACTEC), and is a Certified Specialist in Estate Planning, Trust & Probate Law. Ralph is affiliated with West Coast Resolution Center and conducts mediations through that organization. He has participated in well over 100 mediations.

Anne M. Rudolph is a Shareholder of Hughes and Pizzuto, APC focusing in Probate and Trust Administration, Probate and Trust Litigation, and Appeals. Anne is the Chair of the Firm’s Appellate Section. Anne received her law degree from the University of Oklahoma College of Law where she graduated in the top 5% of her class. She has been a Certified Specialist in Estate Planning, Trust & Probate Law since 2013. Anne has earned an AV Preeminent rating from Martindale-Hubbell for legal experience and knowledge as well as ethical standards. She has also been named a Top Rated Estate and Trust Litigation Attorney by San Diego Super Lawyers® since 2018, an honor that is reserved for the top 5% of attorneys in California. She is a frequent speaker on legal ethics issues that arise in the fields of trusts, estate planning, and probate.

About Our Host:
Host Anna Soliman is Trust Counsel and Managing Director for Fiduciary Trust International of California out of the Los Angeles Office. Prior to joining Fiduciary Trust International, Anna was an estate tax attorney for the Internal Revenue Service and also worked in private practice, specializing in estate planning and trust administration for ultrahigh net worth individuals. She is also a TEXCOM member and is involved with the Fiduciary Income Tax Section of the American Bar Association.

Thank you for listening to Trust Me!

Trust Me is Produced by Foley Marra Studios
Edited by Cat Hammons and Todd Gajdusek

Join estate-planning attorney Elizabeth Bawden and trust-and-estate litigator Matt Owens for a discussion about the Corporate Transparency Act.

 About Our Guest:

 Elizabeth Bawden is a partner in Withers Bergman’s Los Angeles office. Elizabeth focuses her efforts on estate planning, planned giving, and tax-exempt organizations. Elizabeth represents clients in matters related to family wealth transfers for large estates, sophisticated estate and gift tax saving techniques, charitable planned giving, and complex probate and trust administrations, including matters involving digital assets and cryptocurrencies. She also regularly represents tax-exempt organizations in formation, organizational and operational issues. Her practice also includes advising socially minded entrepreneurs and business owners on their options for dedicating their companies to philanthropic causes.

 Elizabeth is certified by the California Board of Legal Specialization as a legal specialist in Estate Planning, Trust and Probate Law and a fellow in the American College of Trust and Estate Counsel (ACTEC). She received the 2019 Distinguished Service Award from the Los Angeles Council of Charitable Gift Planners, where she has served as president and has been a member for 15 years. Elizabeth has been recognized in the Chambers High Net Worth Guide in the area of Private Wealth Law – Southern California since 2021.

 Elizabeth can be reached at [email protected]

 About Our Host:

 Matt Owens is a partner in Sheppard Mullin’s San Diego (Del Mar) office. Matt focuses his practice on trust, estate, and inheritance litigation. He has prosecuted and defended a wide range of matters in probate court, including trust contests, elder-abuse actions, accountings, contested conservatorships, and claims involving breach of fiduciary duty. His clients include high-net-worth individuals and families, corporate trustees, and licensed professional fiduciaries.

 Matt is certified by the California Board of Legal Specialization as a legal specialist in Estate Planning, Trust and Probate Law, he is a member of the Executive Committee of the Trusts and Estates Section of the California Lawyers Association (TEXCOM), and he was recognized in the Chambers High Net Worth Guide 2023 for Private Wealth Disputes – California.

 Matt can be reached at [email protected]

Thank you for listening to Trust Me!

Trust Me is Produced by Foley Marra Studios
Edited by Cat Hammons and Todd Gajdusek

Join Deputy District Attorney Scott Pirrello and Estate Planning Attorney Melissa Raneri Karlsten for a conversation about elder abuse, including internet and technology scams that everyone, no matter their age, is being bombarded with on a daily basis. Scott and Melissa discuss shipping notifications, product subscriptions, and why you should not click on links, or pick up the phone if you do not recognize the caller. In addition to finding out the scammers' old and new tricks, you will also learn ways to protect yourself and others from being a victim of financial scams. And, Scott and Melissa discuss how trusts and estates attorneys can help to protect their clients from financial scams. 

About Our Guest:

Guest Scott Pirrello is a Deputy District Attorney at San Diego's District Attorney's Office where he is the head of Elder Abuse Prosecutions and is a member of the San Diego Elder Justice Task Force. Scott is a frequent speaker on elder abuse crimes and how the community can help better protect victims. Scott's work on an instrumental case in San Diego revealed a nationwide elder fraud network and he continues to work to bring information about these scams to the public in an effort to protect others. 

About Our Host:

Host Melissa Raneri Karlsten is a trusts and estates attorney at the law firm of Aaron, Riechert, Carpol & Riffle, APC in Redwood City, California. She is also a member of the Trusts and Estates Section Executive Committee of the California Lawyers Association.

Links:

60 Minutes: Cyber Scammers Target Parents, Grandparents for Digital Theft: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U2r1MJk85Zo  

FBI Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3): https://www.ic3.gov/ 

County of San Diego, HHSA, Don't Get Hooked: https://www.sdcda.org/content/helping/dont-get-hooked.pdf 

Thank you for listening to Trust Me!

Trust Me is Produced by Foley Marra Studios
Edited by Cat Hammons and Todd Gajdusek

Are irrevocable trusts truly irrevocable?  One way to change the terms of an irrevocable trust is by decanting.  In this episode, our guest Michael Rosen-Prinz will be discussing the particulars of California’s decanting statute. 

About Our Guest:
Michael Rosen-Prinz is a partner at the Los Angeles office of Loeb & Loeb LLP.  Michael maintains a broad trusts and estate practice, including wealth transfer planning, planning for family governance and business succession, cryptocurrency and QSBS planning, and estate, gift and generation-skipping transfer tax matters.  

Michael also has deep experience forming and operating single family offices and private trust companies; advising on governance, succession, tax, regulatory and operational issues. In addition, Michael devotes a substantial portion of his practice to cross-border planning for domestic and international families. In this area, he advises clients on foreign trusts, pre-immigration planning and expatriation, as well as inbound and outbound investments and compliance matters related to structuring investment vehicles in the U.S. and internationally.

Michael is also a member of the Trust and Estates Section of the California Lawyers Association.  Michael can be reached at: [email protected]

About Our Host:
Host Anna Soliman is Trust Counsel and Managing Director for Fiduciary Trust International of California out of the Los Angeles Office. Prior to joining Fiduciary Trust International, Anna was an estate tax attorney for the Internal Revenue Service and also worked in private practice, specializing in estate planning and trust administration for ultrahigh net worth individuals.  She is also a member of the Trust and Estates Section of the California Lawyers Association and is involved with the Fiduciary Income Tax Section of the American Bar Association. 

Thank you for listening to Trust Me!

Trust Me is Produced by Foley Marra Studios
Edited by Cat Hammons and Todd Gajdusek

Most attorneys are able to identify clients who clearly have mental capacity to make decisions and those who clearly lack such capacity.  But what about the clients in the middle part of the spectrum?

In this episode, geropsychologist Bonnie Olsen provides practical guidance on dealing with clients who may have mental function deficits.  She explains how capacity is situational, what attorneys can do to optimize client decision-making ability, and how to get beyond the label of a diagnosis.  

Dr. Olsen’s article entitled “What Attorneys Need to Know About a Client’s Cognitive Capacity” will appear in Volume 29, Issue 2, of California Trusts and Estates Quarterly, which is available to all members of the Trusts and Estates Section of the California Lawyers Association.

About the Guest:

Dr. Bonnie Olsen is clinical psychologist who often works with elderly patients.  She is a Professor of Clinical Family Medicine at the Keck School of Medicine at the University of Southern California.  In 2020-2021, she led a project funded by the U.S. Department of Justice to develop and test an evidence-informed tool for judges to adjudicate guardianship/conservatorship petitions.  In addition, she has a consulting practice in which she evaluates a person’s mental capacity to make estate planning changes, either before or after they are made.

About the Host:

When this episode was recorded (August 3, 2023), Jeffrey Galvin was an attorney with Downey Brand LLP in Sacramento, where he litigated trust and estate disputes involving mental capacity and undue influence issues, and was a member of the Executive Committee of the Trusts and Estates Section of the California Lawyers Association.  

Thank you for listening to Trust Me!

Trust Me is Produced by Foley Marra Studios
Edited by Cat Hammons and Todd Gajdusek

The world is getting smaller and smaller.  As estate planners, we need to be aware of cross-border issues when it comes to estate planning and taxation.  In this episode, our guest Chris Nason will be discussing a basic and practical overview of international estate planning and tax planning issues.   

About Our Guest:

Chris Nason is a partner at McDermott, Will & Emery based in their San Francisco office. Chris focuses his practice on private client matters.  He is the managing editor of International Estate Planning, a multi-volume guide to US estate and income taxation of foreign nationals published annually by LexisNexis/Matthew Bender Elite. Chris teaches classes on Trusts and Estate Planning at Stanford Law School.

While in law school, Chris served as an editor for the Yale Journal of International Law and was a fellow at the China Law Center and was also a co-president of the Law and Africa Society. Prior to law school, he attended Peking University as a CSC Scholar, where he studied Chinese language and law. Chris can be reached at: [email protected]

About Our Host:
Host Anna Soliman is Trust Counsel and Chief Fiduciary Officer for Fiduciary Trust International of California out of the Los Angeles Office. Prior to joining Fiduciary Trust International, Anna was an estate tax attorney for the Internal Revenue Service and also worked in private practice, specializing in estate planning and trust administration for ultrahigh net worth individuals.  She is also a TEXCOM member and is a Vice-Chair of the Fiduciary Income Tax Section of the American Bar Association. 

Thank you for listening to Trust Me!

Trust Me is Produced by Foley Marra Studios
Edited by Cat Hammons and Todd Gajdusek