Schedule 2026

Welcome

Opening Keynote

Stephen R. Akers, Senior Fiduciary Counsel, Bessemer Trust Company

The discussion will include planning implications of Trump accounts for Roth
conversions, hot planning arrangements with qualified small business stock (QSBS),
administrative announcements, GRAT litigation attacks (with observations from the
briefs in Elcan v. Commissioner), gifts by beneficiaries in NJSA actions (McDougall v.
Commissioner), the treatment on the divorce of trust settlors of trusts created by them
for descendants (C.S. v. R.H.), creditor planning for trust beneficiaries, valuation of
notes, tax effects of joint grantor trusts, and other late-breaking developments.

Morning Break with Exhibitors in Exhibit Hall

General Session

Vivian and Patrick Return for 2026 Recent Developments in Trusts & Estates; Will They Be Replaced by Claude in 2027?

Patrick A. Kohlmann, Managing Partner, Temmerman, Cilley, Kohlmann & Norcia LLP
Vivian L. Thoreen, Executive Partner, Holland & Knight

The program is our annual review of recent case law and statutory changes. The
panelists will discuss key developments, including new legislation and court decisions,
which are most significant to California trust and estate practitioners.

Breakout Sessions

1A_Gifts That Keep on Giving: A Review of Unexpected, Unsettling, and Unsettled Gift Tax Issues in Modern Estate Planning

Philip J. Hayes, Chief Fiduciary Counsel, Storgate
Stefanie J. Lipson, Attorney at Law, Greenberg Glusker LLP

Most gifts are easy to recognize when they arrive wrapped in a box with a ribbon. It's much harder to recognize ones arising from a trust modification, a capital call, a business restructuring, or the exercise of a power of appointment. Gift tax issues can often present themselves in transactions that practitioners and their clients would never think of or intend as gifts. This session reviews the gift tax rules in the context of modern estate planning, examines indirect and incomplete gifts, beneficiary actions, private equity and family investment arrangements, QTIP terminations, powers of appointment, bona fide loan issues, reporting considerations, and other areas of continuing uncertainty, and explores how seemingly routine planning decisions and opportunities can produce unexpected or uncertain gift tax consequences.

1B_Trust Us... Carefully: Trust and Estate Pitfalls, Ethics, and Malpractice Prevention

Mandy Jeffcoach, Founding Partner, Whitney Thompson & Jeffcoach
Melissa Raneri Karlsten, Shareholder, Aaron, Riechert, Carpol, & Riffle

Trusts and estates practitioners are facing more malpractice claims than ever before. Join Mandy and Melissa for a fast-paced, practical program exploring the ethics rules and key case law shaping today's fiduciary practice, from foundational decisions to the latest developments. Leave with real-world risk management strategies, practice tips, and sample forms you can immediately incorporate into your practice to avoid becoming the next cautionary tale.

1C_ Planners Plan While Litigators Laugh: How Will a Court Interpret Your Well Intended Plan

Erika J. Gasaway, Partner, Lathrop GPM LLP
Jennifer F. Scharre, Partner, Coblentz Patch Duffy & Bass LLP

The Speakers will discuss the different types of power to act on behalf of an individual through estate planning documents as well as the complexities associated with amending such documents. The program will review different case law where courts have interpreted language in estate planning documents resulting in a range of results for beneficiaries with a focus on amending instruments and using trust assets to pay trustee’s attorneys’ fees. Participants will learn practice tips throughout to avoid unintended results from drafting and interpretation.

1D_Prompt at your Peril: Heppner and the Rise of A.I. in Trusts and Estates

Rob McGillen, Chief Innovation Officer, CBIZ
Ryan Szczepanik, Senior Wealth Strategist, BNY Wealth
Moderator: Leigh Wasson, Senior Wealth Direct, BNY Wealth

This presentation will explore how artificial intelligence is reshaping the trusts and estates field.  The session will highlight the recent Heppner court decision and its progeny; current and proposed statutory law and court rules; and the confidentiality, privilege, accuracy, and privacy concerns associated with the use of AI by lawyers and their clients.  The session will address the impact of current law and rules governing use of AI on burgeoning issues in the trusts and estates field, discuss practical use cases, and evaluate best practices for trust and estate advisors who intend to use AI responsibly.  The panel will include an AI specialist who will communicate what you need to know about the current state of AI, and how to define your approach to AI to stay innovative and competitive while mitigating the risks associated with a technology that is evolving daily.

Breakout Sessions

2A_OBBBA Insights: From Statute to Guidance

Annette Nellen, Professor, and Director, San Jose State University
David Sacarelos, Principal, Baker Tilly

This presentation will provide participants with a comprehensive overview of the guidance and interpretive materials issued following the enactment of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA). Attendees will learn how the IRS, the Treasury Department, and the Joint Committee on Taxation's Bluebook are implementing and interpreting the legislation, identify key areas where administrative guidance has clarified or expanded on the statutory language, and understand the practical implications for taxpayers and advisors. Participants will also gain insight into emerging compliance requirements, planning opportunities, and unresolved issues requiring further guidance, enabling them to effectively monitor developments and advise stakeholders as the post-enactment regulatory landscape continues to evolve.

2B_Beyond Two Parents: Estate Planning Implications of Modern Parentage Laws 

Alma Soongi Beck, Partner, Lathrop GPM LLP
Terrence M. Franklin, Partner, Sacks, Glazier, Franklin, Lodise, McMurtrey and Scheerer LLP

California's recognition of more than two legal parents has implications that extend well beyond its borders. This session explores how multiparent and functional parentage laws can affect trusts and estates planning, administration and litigation. Drawing on developments in California and other jurisdictions, presenters will examine how evolving definitions of parent-child relationships may impact intestate succession, class gifts, beneficiary designations, fiduciary obligations and heirship determinations. Attendees will gain practical guidance on identifying potential multiparent issues, drafting documents that clearly reflect client intent and navigating estate administration in an increasingly mobile and diverse society.

2C_The Planner Crafts the Record; The Litigator Exploits It: Critical Communications Throughout the Trust Lifecycle and E-Discovery

Alexandra M. Banis, Associate, Sheppard
Nicole M. Bouyea, Associate, Sheppard

Every communication is written for today’s client, but eventually may be read by tomorrow’s judge.  The planner creates the evidentiary record.  Years later, the litigator lives or dies by it.  This presentation will discuss critical communications with your planning and litigation clients, best practices, and how an estate planning file, as well as other information, can be used in litigation.

2D_ The Net Worth Continuum: Matching Planning to Needs

Alexandra M. Ayoub, Partner, Ayoub & Dodson LLP
Micah Miller, Managing Director, Wealth Strategy, Cresset

Estate planning needs evolve as wealth grows. This presentation explores the key planning considerations that emerge across different net worth levels, from foundational estate documents to advanced wealth transfer and tax planning strategies. Attendees will gain a practical framework for identifying opportunities, addressing risks, and aligning estate planning solutions with a client's stage of wealth and long-term legacy goals.

General Session

Federal Tax Update

Samuel A. Donaldson, Professor, Georgia State University College of Law

Stay up to date with this informative and entertaining recap of important cases, rulings, regulations, and legislation from the past 12 months in the federal income, estate, and gift tax laws.

Breakout Sessions

3A_The IRS and Decanting

Daniel Gespass, Managing Director, US National Tax, Andersen

In the Chief Counsel Advice memo (CCA) 202352018, the IRS took the position that beneficiaries' consent to a trust modification of a defective grantor trust to give the trustee the discretionary power to reimburse the settlor's income tax payments constituted "a gift of a portion of their respective interest in income and/or principal" of the trust.  Hear from the author of this CCA about the Service's opinion on decanting, the McDougall case, and other hot estate planning issues.

3B_ Turning the Focus to us as Practitioners:  Important Strategies to Make the Quality of our Practice Lives equal to the Quality of our Client Services

Louis S. Harrison, Partner, Harrison LLP

The talk focuses on techniques to help increase happiness while reducing the stress we commonly experience in the practice of estate planning.   The presentation will include a discussion of billing best practices, client selection, termination of client relationships within allowed ethical procedures, techniques to increase daily energy, strategies to increase efficiency and happiness, physical desk exercises, and controlling (the crushing effects of) technology in your practice.  The author usually accompanies these talks with at least ten “takeaways” that can be implemented (and remembered) by practitioners post presentation.

3C_Whose Law Is It Anyway? Conflict of Laws in Trusts and Estates

Ryan D. Cunningham, Senior Associate, Hanson Bridgett LLP
Scott A. Fraser, Shareholder, Crist I Biorn I Shepherd I Roskoph APC
Chelsea J. Suttman, Partner, Harrison LLP
 
As families, trustees, and trust assets cross state lines with increasing frequency, choice of law can no longer be an afterthought. This session provides a practical framework for resolving conflicts between competing state laws, paying particular attention to the divergent treatment of real property versus intangible personal property, California's governmental-interest approach to conflicts of law, and the Second Restatement's issue-by-issue analysis of validity, construction, and administration. Attendees will also examine California's non-waivable public policy limits on conflict of laws and learn how to evaluate and execute a change of trust situs, including the legal requirements, potential pitfalls, and tax consequences of moving a trust from one jurisdiction to another.

3D_ Trustee Through the Centuries: From the Medieval Use to Modern Fiduciary Governance     

Paul Barulich, CEO, Peninsula Bay Trust Company
Philip J. Hayes, Chief Fiduciary Counsel, Storgate

This presentation traces the historical evolution of the trustee from the medieval feoffee to uses to the modern corporate fiduciary, examining how the office has continually adapted to changing legal, social, and economic conditions. The trustee's history can also be understood as the evolution of fiduciary governance—the changing allocation, supervision, and exercise of fiduciary authority over eight centuries. By viewing the development of trusts through the evolution of the trustee's office, the presentation offers a historical framework for understanding contemporary innovations, including directed trusts, trust protectors, and other modern mechanisms that continue to reshape fiduciary administration.

Breakout Sessions

4A_ Estate Planning for Longevity Risks      

Martin Behn, Partner, Lathrop GPM            
Joseph Bragdon, Vice President, Financial Architects Partners           
Jeffrey M. Ostrum, Managing Director, Financial Architects Partners

Estate planning used to be about what happens when we die. Today, it is increasingly about what happens if we live.   As clients live longer and experience extended periods of retirement, incapacity, and multigenerational involvement, traditional estate planning assumptions are increasingly tested. Join Martin Behn, Jeff Ostrum, and Joseph Bragdon as they examine estate planning strategies tailored to extended lifespans. Topics include life insurance planning, incapacity planning, evolving beneficiary needs, and flexibility in trust design.

4B International Tax Basics for Estate Planners

Magda Szabo, Partner, Sensiba

The session will address cross border estate and gift tax issues including jurisdiction, treatment of legal constructs such as trusts and foundations in various countries; US tax treatment of inbound and outbound investments, and estate tax treaties. 

4C_Untangling the Knot: Estate Planning Challenges Before, During, and After Divorce                     

Jennifer L. Mispagel, Counsel, Lathrop GPM
Marisa C. San Filippo, Principal, Flicker Kerin, LLP              
Kent Swartzberg, Director, CBIZ

This presentation will help planners issue-spot potential divorce landmines for clients who are contemplating marriage, already married, engaged in a divorce process, and post-judgment.  Topics will include premarital agreements, post-marital and transmutation agreements, divorce landmines (the Standard Family Law Restraining Orders/ATROs), income available for support and legal fees, what happens if a client dies in the middle of the divorce process, and special post-judgment considerations including retitling of assets, support, and custody if one parent dies.  Attendees will leave with practical tools to identify risks and better coordinate planning for clients navigating divorce

4D_Doing Good and Doing Well: Turning Charitable Planning into a Strategic Advantage

Katie Gardner, Director, Bernstein Private Wealth Management
Liza Hanks, Director, Gift Planning, Silicon Valley Community Foundation
Karl Mill, Founder, Mill Law Center

What if charitable planning wasn’t an afterthought in the planning process—but one of the most powerful tools in your estate planning toolkit? Too often, philanthropy is siloed from core wealth and estate strategies. Yet when thoughtfully integrated, charitable planning can unlock significant tax efficiencies, reduce taxable estates, and strengthen family alignment across generations—all while helping clients achieve meaningful impact.

Closing Keynote

“Office Hours” with Professor Donaldson

Samuel A. Donaldson, Professor, Georgia State University College of Law
Moderator: Mary White, Founder, White Law

This closing keynote will provide the opportunity for a deeper dive into recent tax estate, gift, and trust developments and will include time for Q & A with Professor Donaldson.