IRS Rules Self-Settled Alaska Trust Will not be in Grantor’s Estate

Mr. Blattmachr is a Principal in ILS Management, LLC and a retired member of Milbank Tweed Hadley & McCloy LLP in New York, NY and of the Alaska, California and New York Bars. He is recognized as one of the most creative trusts and estates lawyers in the country and is listed in The Best Lawyers in America. He has written and lectured extensively on estate and trust taxation and charitable giving.

Mr. Blattmachr graduated from Columbia University School of Law cum laude, where he was recognized as a Harlan Fiske Stone Scholar, and received his A.B. degree from Bucknell University, majoring in mathematics. He has served as a lecturer-in-law of the Columbia University School of Law and is an Adjunct Professor of Law at New York University Law School in its Masters in Tax Program (LLM). He is a former chairperson of the Trusts & Estates Law Section of the New York State Bar Association and of several committees of the American Bar Association. Mr. Blattmachr is a Fellow and a former Regent of the American College of Trust and Estate Counsel and past chair of its Estate and Gift Tax Committee. He is author or co-author of eight books and more than 500 articles on estate planning and tax topics.

Among professional activities, which are too numerous to list, Mr. Blattmachr has served as an Advisor on The American Law Institute, Restatement of the Law, Trusts 3rd; and as a Fellow of The New York Bar Foundation and a member of the American Bar Foundation.

Douglas Blattmachr founded Peak Trust Company, formerly Alaska Trust Company, in 1997. Douglas served as the President and CEO from 1997 until 2018. Douglas currently serves as Chairman of the board and continues to serve in an advisory capacity for the company as well as board management. He brings with him over 40 years of trust and investment management experience. Prior to starting Peak Trust Company, he was Senior Vice President and Chief Investment Officer for a $5 billion trust division at WestOne, President & CEO of Neuberger & Berman Trust Company, and headed up the D.A. Davidson Trust Company.

In 1996 Douglas along with his brother Jonathan Blattmachr took an active role in the passage of the Alaska Trust Act, which ultimately passed in 1997. This groundbreaking legislation set the model for modern trust legislation across all top trust jurisdictions in the nation today. From 1997 until 2018, Douglas maintained a major role in the passage of trust and estate-related legislation in Alaska, and was instrumental in the passage of numerous bills over that time period.

Douglas has taught investment management at the university level and has been a speaker at many seminars on investments, retirement plans, and estate planning. He has also written or co-authored numerous articles on estate planning and investment topics.

Douglas holds a Master of Business Administration in Banking and Finance from Adelphi University, a Bachelor of Science degree from Clemson University, and is a graduate of Pacific Coast Banking School.

Professor Mitchell M. Gans is the Steven A. Horowitz distinguished professor in taxation at Hofstra University School of Law, and an Adjunct Professor of Law at NYU Law School. He is an Academic Fellow at ACTEC and is the Academic Editor of the ACTEC Journal. Professor Gans is a leading scholar in the estate-and-gift tax area, teaching courses for the IRS on estate and gift tax and valuation methodology. He is a frequent lecturer for ALI-ABA, NYU, ACTEC, the ABA and other groups and has written numerous articles on estate tax planning topics, including a recent Leimberg Information Services article, co-authored with Jonathan Blattmachr, on the Proposed Section 2704 Regulations.

GIDEON ROTHSCHILD is a partner with the New York City law firm of MOSES & SINGER LLP, where he co-chairs the Trusts & Estates and Wealth Preservation Group. He focuses his practice in the areas of domestic and international estate planning techniques for high net worth clients and is a nationally recognized authority on wealth preservation and foreign trusts.

Mr. Rothschild is the Immediate Past Chair of the Real Property, Trust & Estate Law Section of the American Bar Association, a Fellow of the American College of Trust and Estate Counsel and Academician of The International Academy of Trust and Estate Lawyers. He is a member of the Advisory Boards of BNA’s “Tax Management” and “Trusts and Estates,” a Past Chair of the New York Chapter of the Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners (STEP), and a member of the New York State Bar Association.

He was an Adjunct Professor at the University of Miami Law School Graduate Program and has lectured frequently to professional groups including the University of Miami’s Philip Heckerling Institute, the New York University Federal Tax Institute, the New York State Bar Association, the American Bar Association, and the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants.

Mr. Rothschild is the co-author of the BNA “Tax Management” portfolio on Asset Protection Planning and has authored numerous articles for publications including “Trusts and Estates” and “Estate Planning.” Mr. Rothschild is a recipient of the prestigious Distinguished Estate Planner award from the National Association of Estate Planners and Councils and is listed in Chambers USA, “Best Lawyers in America,” “Top 100 New York Superlawyers” and Worth’s “Top 100 Lawyers.” Mr. Rothschild is also licensed as a Certified Public Accountant.

Mr. Rothschild distinguishes himself from many of his peers in that his estate planning recommendations are integrated with asset protection objectives. That is, by educating his clients on the non-tax benefits available with trusts and other vehicles and how they can be drafted in a flexible manner, his clients can achieve both tax savings and wealth preservation. Such benefits include protection from divorce, creditors or litigation exposure.