As the world becomes more litigious, the courts are being flooded with wealth transfer litigation. The reasons are numerous. Some are due to dysfunctional family dynamics resulting from multiple marriages and blended families. Others are attributable to breaches of fiduciary duty, lack of transparency and experience. This session will explore a variety of issues that create litigation, with planning tips and advice that will hopefully keep you and your clients out of litigation, including 1) Pot trusts vs. separate trusts; 2) Decanting; 3) Titling property properly; 4) Challenges with multiple fiduciaries; 5) Preventing confusion with rental property; 6) Discretion in governing documents; 7) To conserve or not to conserve – that is the question; 8) Why use a Trust Protector; 9) Concentrated equity positions; 10) When a trust owns an operating business; 11) Charitable beneficiaries; 12) Accountings; and 13) The importance of accurate record keeping.
A5 – Planning Tips and Advice to Help Prevent Wealth Transfer and Fiduciary Litigation
Speakers
Kelly Berlingeri
Superior Court of California, Ventura County
Kelly Murphy Berlingeri, Esq., currently serves as a Court Attorney for the Superior Court of California, County of Ventura. She previously served as the court’s Probate Examiner, where she focused primarily on reviewing conservatorship, guardianship and special needs trust accountings. Prior to joining the court, for fifteen years Ms. Berlingeri practiced as a contract attorney with over twenty law firms in Ventura County, focusing primarily on fiduciary accounts and reports. Her private practice also emphasized estate planning, trusts, conservatorships, and estate administrations. Prior to opening her own firm, Ms. Berlingeri worked for five years for a civil litigation insurance defense firm in Camarillo, California. Before attending law school, she gained valuable and practical financial knowledge while working for six years at various financial institutions.
Francine Lee
Ernst & Young
Francine Lee is a Senior Manager and the Business Leader for EY’s Fiduciary/Trust & Estate Accounting Services (“FTEAS”) team. FTEAS is a national practice with a team of over 30 professionals focused exclusively on the preparation of fiduciary/court accountings for banks, law firms, family offices, professional and individual fiduciaries across the country. FTEAS prepares over 2,000 accountings per year -everything from small special-needs trusts to billion-dollar-plus trusts and estates that may be the subject of complex litigation.
Francine brings over 25 years of experience creating income tax and estate planning solutions for High Net Worth clients and building platforms and products at industry leading organizations including BMO’s multi-family office CTC/myCFO, HSBC Private Bank, Goldman Sachs Family Office, Prudential Securities and Lehman Brothers. Francine began her career as a tax attorney in private practice focusing on income and estate tax planning.
Francine is a frequent speaker at industry conferences on fiduciary accountings, calculating fiduciary accounting income and fiduciary leading practices.
Francine holds a Master of Laws in Taxation from New York University School of Law and Juris Doctor from Western New England School of Law. She is admitted to the New York State Bar
Hon. Judge Roger Lund
Superior Court of California Ventura County
http://www.ventura.courts.ca.gov/
Judge Lund currently serves as the Presiding Probate Judge handling all probate, trust, conservatorship and guardianship of the person and estate cases in Ventura. He was appointed Superior Court Judge by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger in December 2009. Judge Lund was named 2022 Judge of the Year by the Ventura County Trial Lawyers Association. Prior to joining the bench, Judge Lund was in private practice for 13 years, handling wills, trusts, probates, conservatorships and guardianships, and also served as a Probate Referee Assistant to Gregory R. Gose, California Probate Referee, assisting in the valuation of all kinds of probate estate assets.