The New Duty of Consistency and Reporting for Estate Tax Purposes

Congratulations to Kevin O’Brien for his article published in The Recorder. Kevin analyzes the nuance of appeals within trusts & estates cases in the article, “In Trust Litigation, It’s Best to Take the ‘Appeal Now’ Approach.”

Principal Ryan Szczepanik and Daniel Spector presented on the “Best (and latest) Practices for Trust, Estate and Financial Elder Abuse Mediations” to the Alameda County Bar Association. Topics discussed included common methods of resolution, when to participate in a T&E, FEA mediation, selecting the right mediator, pre-mediation tasks, the mediation brief, and the settlement agreement.

What questions should an attorney ask before hiring someone to prepare a client’s fiduciary accounting? What are the indicia of a poorly prepared accounting? Are waivers of account ever a good idea? Should the trust document routinely waive accountings?  Ever? Is there anything a trustee’s attorney can do to shorten the statute of limitations on breaches of trust disclosed in an accounting?