Efficient Use of the New $5 Million Gift and GST Tax Exemption

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.