The New Duty of Consistency and Reporting for Estate Tax Purposes

HBH is delighted to announce the creation of an annual Diversity Scholarship.

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.

Many trustees employ counsel to provide advice on dealing with and responding to inquiries from beneficiaries. Trustees may believe that their communications with and advice from counsel are confidential and cannot be disclosed to the beneficiaries without their consent. The recent court decision in Fiduciary Trust International of California v. Klein (2017) 9 Cal. App. 5th 1184 is a cautionary tale that warns trustees against assuming that all communications with an attorney are confidential.