Trust Me
Conversations brought to you by the Trusts and Estates Section of the California Lawyers Association..
Episodes
There are many things to consider when choosing a trustee or successor trustee for a trust. The trustee will face a number of challenges over the course of their service and will need to plan ahead to avoid the inevitable pitfalls. In this episode of Trust Me!, we discuss a proactive plan for a trustee to successfully administer a trust, and an overview of primary things to consider to mitigate the risk of adverse action against a...
When a client passes away, one of the most important items on our to-do list is to file certain tax returns. In this episode of Trust Me!, we will be discussing an overview of things to consider during the period of post-death administration, mainly focusing on filing the federal estate tax return (Form 706).
About Our Guests:
Lisa M. Piehl is the Program Manager for the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), Estate and Gift Tax Policy d...
In this episode of Trust Me!, Bette Epstein discusses the magic of the trust and estate mediation process to informally resolve disputes, which includes party engagement, active listening, patience and problem solving.
About Our Guest:
Bette Epstein is a mediator, arbitrator and referee with ADR Services, Inc. Ms. Epstein has been mediating trust and estate disputes since 2000. Following a remarkable career as a trust and estate l...
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, plann...
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 Am...
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 estat...
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 r...
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 Tr...
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...
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 ...
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 f...
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-maki...
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 pract...
In January of 2009, the infamous and anonymous Satoshi Nakamoto launched the Bitcoin Network. Bitcoin is the first cryptocurrency, which is a digital asset that lives on a decentralized public ledger, also known as the blockchain. Over a decade later, crypto has solidified itself as a legitimate asset class and a major player in the financial space. There are now thousands of different crypto assets—like Ethereum, Litecoin, and eve...
In this episode, our guests, Marguerite Lorenz, Master Trustee, and Todd Stephenson, estate liquidator, will be discussing the difficulties that are encountered in dealing with personal property after someone has died. This episode is geared towards estate planners who are looking to create a well-rounded plan to avoid unnecessary family strife after a client’s passing, as well as to the general public to get ideas on how to keep c...
Trust and estate lawyers have a keen interest in state legislation. The California Lawyers Association gives them a voice in Sacramento. When conservatorships became a hot topic in the Legislature, the Trusts and Estates Section of CLA was there to provide real-world input from experienced practitioners. The Section regularly sponsors bills to advance the fairness and efficiency of California law. Get the inside scoop from Saul...
Private letter rulings (PLRs) are one of many tools that tax and wealth planning professionals can employ to benefit their clients, but many professionals are unaware of the benefits of PLRs or don’t know how to obtain PLRs. Our guest, S. Eva Wolf, will provide us with guidance on the PLR process as it relates to common estate, gift and generation-skipping transfer tax issues.
Join us for a conversation with neuropsychologist Jonathan Canick about the interplay between aging and an elder client’s capacity to execute estate planning documents. Aging itself has no direct effect on mental capacity, but ageist stereotypes and implicit biases abound. Indeed, many physicians mistakenly assume that advancing age results in cognitive decline. At the same time, mental function deficits are often overlooked in ...
What is a conservatorship?
Over the past few years, “conservatorship” has become a popular buzz word and the topic of many discussions in the media. With this new-found attention on conservatorships, California lawmakers have been busy, passing multiple bills and changing the landscape of how conservatorships are established, managed, and supervised in California Probate Courts. Although there is some criticism of the restrictive n...
In this episode, our guest Josie M. Porras Corporon, CELA, will be diving into the misunderstood world of elder law. This episode is geared towards practitioners who don’t know what an elder law attorney does and when they need to refer their clients to an elder law attorney; as well as to the general public as a guide for where to start when they want to plan for a long term disability in addition to their passing. We will discu...
Popular Podcasts
The Podium: An NBC Olympic and Paralympic podcast. Join us for insider coverage during the intense competition at the 2024 Paris Olympic and Paralympic Games. In the run-up to the Opening Ceremony, we’ll bring you deep into the stories and events that have you know and those you'll be hard-pressed to forget.
In The Village will take you into the most exclusive areas of the 2024 Paris Olympic Games to explore the daily life of athletes, complete with all the funny, mundane and unexpected things you learn off the field of play. Join Elizabeth Beisel as she sits down with Olympians each day in Paris.
Listen to the latest news from the 2024 Olympics.
The 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris are here and have everyone talking. iHeartPodcasts is buzzing with content in honor of the 33rd Olympic Games and you can follow Paris Summer Games to stay up to date on all things Olympics. We’re bringing you episodes from a variety of iHeartPodcast shows to help you keep up with the action. Follow Paris Summer Games so you don’t miss any coverage of the 2024 Olympic Games, and if you like what you hear, be sure to follow each Podcast in the feed for more great content from iHeartPodcasts.
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations.