Agenda & Topics

8:00 am Registration open

8:30 am Welcome remarks

9:00 am Panel Discussion: Succeeding in Business Succession Planning
  Panelists: Todd Angkatavanich and Kevin Matz

When a family business changes hands, the stakes couldn't be higher. This panel brings together a T&E planner and a litigator to explore succession planning best practices, the family dynamics that can make or break a transition, and how today's M&A landscape is transforming estate planning for closely held and family-owned businesses.

10:45 am Panel Discussion: "Hot Topics & Hot Messes" (aka Practical Issues Surrounding OBBBA)
  Panelists: Keri Brown and Laurelle Gutierrez

The One Big Beautiful Bill Act has landed, and estate planners are still sorting through the fallout. This panel brings together a T&E planner and a litigator to break down the provisions reshaping practice — including new QSBS treatment, Trump Accounts, charitable giving changes, and the questions clients are already asking.

12:15 pm Networking Lunch with Sponsors

1:30 pm Panel Discussion: "The Value in Valuation"
  Panelists: Carsten Hoffmann and John Prokey

Valuation disputes don't resolve themselves in a vacuum. This panel brings together a T&E attorney and a valuation specialist to explore current trends in transfer tax valuation, the discount strategies under scrutiny, and what recent court decisions mean for your planning and practice.

3:15 pm Panel Discussion: "Taxing the Non-Taxable Estates"
  Panelists: David Warren, Kirsten Wolff, and Nathan Wright

For most clients, estate tax is no longer the headline. With exemptions at $15 million ($30 million for married couples), the planning conversation has shifted — and income tax is now center stage. This panel brings together an accountant, T&E attorney, and trustee to tackle the income tax challenges reshaping estate planning practice today.

4:45 pm Educational program ends, Summer Social begins

Speakers

Todd Angkatavanich, Partner, Arentfox Schiff LLP

Wealth planning and preservation are central to Todd’s practice. He specializes in safeguarding and transitioning clients’ assets for future generations in a tax efficient manner by implementing vehicles such as Sales to Grantor Trusts, Grantor Retained Annuity Trusts (GRATs), Carried Interest Transfer techniques, Family Limited Partnerships, and Preferred “Freeze” Partnerships.

With experience in investment structures, Todd assists national and international families and family offices in navigating complex transfer tax issues.  With a particular focus on navigating complex estate and gift tax pitfalls under Chapter 14 of the Internal Revenue Code, he creates wealth transfer structures that are designed to preserve assets for families for multiple generations to come.

Todd is committed to educating future generations about wealth preservation and its empowering effects on families. By creating efficient structures and providing insights into non-tax aspects of engagement by family members at different generations, he enables his clients to preserve family wealth while supporting their endeavors at multiple generations.

Keri Brown, Partner, Baker Botts

A trusted advisor to some of the nation's most prominent individuals, Keri Brown assists her clients on complex federal estate, gift and income tax litigation and controversy matters, including disputes and litigation with the Department of Justice and the Internal Revenue Service. She counsels high net worth individuals and families in a variety of courts, including in the United States Tax Court, United States District Courts and United States Courts of Appeals. She represents taxpayers in federal tax audits and administrative appeals, and represents fiduciaries and beneficiaries of trusts and estates in state courts with respect to administration and fiduciary duty issues. She also assists businesses and individuals in preparing for and navigating the litigation process in tax matters.

In 2021, Keri was recognized as a “Woman Who Means Business” by the Houston Business Journal for her significant business accomplishments, as well as her commitment to community service.

As firmwide Partner-in-Charge of Corporate Social Responsibility, Keri advances the firm’s commitment to its communities by allocating the firm’s people and financial resources to support communities, overseeing corporate citizenship, managing the firm’s pro bono efforts, and aligning the firm’s Corporate Social Responsibility efforts with those of its clients.

Kevin Matz, Partner, Arentfox Schiff LLP

Kevin counsels clients on wealth transfer planning; drafting wills and trusts; gift, estate, income, and generation-skipping transfer tax planning and tax return preparation; charitable gift planning; probate proceedings and estate administration; and associated litigation as well as corporate counseling.

Kevin often serves as outside general counsel to his high net worth clients and their family offices, and melds a unique combination of technical and practical excellence with outstanding skills as both a communicator and empathic listener.

Kevin has advised clients on entity and succession planning, including use of family limited partnerships, use of grantor retained annuity trusts, transfers to irrevocable trusts involving complex valuations, qualified personal residence trusts, irrevocable life insurance trusts, and the use of charitable remainder trusts, charitable lead trusts, and private foundations to further family planning and philanthropic objectives. Kevin also counsels clients on family office structuring, and co-chairs ArentFox Schiff’s Family Office Industry Group.

Laurelle M. Gutierrez, Partner, McDermott Will & Schulte

Laurelle M. Gutierrez has a diverse practice representing high-net-worth individuals and their families with respect to all aspects of gift, estate and generation-skipping wealth-transfer tax planning, as well as trust and estate administration.

Laurelle has extensive experience in the design and implementation of sophisticated intergenerational wealth-transfer planning strategies. She advises domestic and multinational high-net-worth clients and families to develop and orchestrate innovative solutions around wealth transfer, philanthropic giving and multifaceted estate planning needs. She has advised trustees and executors with complex probate and trust administrations, including successfully representing clients in estate tax and gift tax audits.

While in law school, Laurelle served on the University of San Francisco Law Review. She frequently writes and speaks on sophisticated estate planning and fiduciary income tax issues for professional organizations, including the American Law Institute, the Heckerling Institute on Estate Planning, the State Bar of California and CalCPA.

Carsten Hoffmann, Managing Director, Stout    

Carsten Hoffmann has more than three decades of valuation expertise and is a recognized expert on a broad range of complex valuation issues related to estate and gift tax, income tax, litigation support, and dispute resolution – including the quantification of discounts for lack of control and lack of marketability pertaining to business and real property interests.

As a leader in the valuation industry, Carsten has testified in U.S. Tax Court as a valuation expert, has authored a number of articles on a wide range of valuation topics, and regularly presents on valuation issues nationally.

Carsten co-leads Stout’s Trust & Estate Valuation practice and is the Irvine Regional Leader. Prior to joining Stout, Mr. Hoffmann was a Managing Director at FMV Opinions where he oversaw the operations of the Irvine, California office. In addition, Carsten is a top ranked United States tennis champion. He has been ranked the #1 doubles player in the country in his age group and has represented the United States in the World Team competition.

John Prokey, Partner, Rambacher Prokey Leonard LLP

John’s law practice focuses on providing advice in wealth planning, estate and trust administration, and tax. His clients include individuals, private fiduciaries, institutions, and other business and non-profit entities. The wealth planning portion of John’s law practice emphasizes advising individuals and fiduciaries in estate planning, wealth preservation, tax, and business matters. John also advises fiduciaries and beneficiaries in trust and probate administration matters, with emphasis in complex administrations. John’s law practice includes representing taxpayers in all levels of federal tax controversy, including IRS examination and Appeals, and before the U.S. Tax Court. Clients, their families, and other practitioners rely on John for dispute resolution in these arenas, including serving as a mediator.

John is a Fellow of The American College of Trust and Estate Counsel. He is also a member of the California Lawyers Association. He served on the Trusts and Estates Section Executive Committee and the Taxation Section Executive Committee of the California State Bar; and also served as Chair (2004-2005) of the Taxation Section’s Estate and Gift Tax Sub-Committee. John is a member of the Silicon Valley, Santa Clara County, and American Bar Associations.

John is a frequent lecturer and guest speaker at numerous seminars and conferences throughout California and elsewhere, and is an author on various tax and estate planning topics. Speaking engagements include the Heckerling Institute on Estate Planning, Jerry A. Kasner Estate Planning Symposium, AICPA Advanced Estate Planning Conference, CalCPA Advanced Estate Planning Institute, Annual Estate Planning Symposium, Tax and Update Planning Conference, the San Diego Tax and Estate Planning Forum, the Hawaii Tax Institute, CEB/UCLA Estate Planning Conference, Continuing Education of the Bar Estate Planning and Administration, San Francisco, San Mateo County, and Silicon Valley Bar Associations, East Bay, Orange County, Sacramento, Santa Clara County, Santa Cruz County, and Stanislaus County Estate Planning Councils, CPE Forum of the Central Coast,  East Bay Trust & Estates Lawyers Seminar, and Paralegal Association of Santa Clara County.

David Warren, Co-founder & Chairman, Bridgeford Trust 

David Warren is Co-Founder and Chairman of Bridgeford Trust Company, as well as a member of the Trust Administrative Committee. He is also President and CEO of Bridgeford Advisors dba Bridgeford – a sister company operating throughout the country and around the world providing consultative, planning, business development, and marketing support to Bridgeford Trust Company.

David is an attorney with over 20 years of professional experience practicing law and working in the financial services industry serving the trust and wealth management needs of high and ultra-high net worth families across the nation and around the world. As Co-Founder and Chairman, David shapes Bridgeford Trust Company’s strategic growth, both in the U.S. and internationally, as well as its brand development.

Prior to establishing Bridgeford Trust Company, David was recruited out of a prestigious Mid-Atlantic law firm, to join the Wealth Management/Trust Department of a large regional bank as a Vice President/Senior Trust Administrator. In this position, he worked extensively with wealthy families and individuals on a variety of trust and fiduciary issues. David subsequently transitioned his career to Bank of New York Mellon where he worked exclusively and extensively with ultra-high net worth families on various wealth management issues including tax planning, asset protection, and legacy planning.

David is very active in the community having served in leadership roles for many non-profit organizations over the years. He is also active in several groups and organizations, including the Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners (STEP) and the Key Biscayne Bar Association, as both a speaker and supporter of their events. David is also a past member of Vistage International – the world’s foremost executive leadership organization.

Kirsten Wolff, Partner, Sideman & Bancroft

Kirsten Wolff represents individual clients in the areas of estate planning, estate and trust administration, estate and gift taxation, charitable gift planning, and probate. Her practice focuses on multi-generational wealth transfer strategies that center on family goals and values, while emphasizing tax minimization, asset management, and privacy. She routinely structures and implements complex plans involving trusts, LLCs, and other entities across various domestic and international jurisdictions.

Kirsten draws on her prior experience in state and local taxation to advise clients on nuanced issues involving California income and property tax, including California’s unique rules regarding the income taxation of trusts and the throwback statute. She is particularly skilled at navigating the complexities of cross-border taxation and international trust administration, and frequently collaborates with advisors in jurisdictions such as Delaware, Nevada, Wyoming, New Hampshire, and Alaska—as well as multiple international jurisdictions—to modernize existing trusts or establish new ones.

Kirsten also assists fiduciaries and trustees with trust administration involving complex assets, including those located abroad, and regularly advises on charitable planning. Her work includes forming and obtaining tax exemption for foundations and nonprofit organizations, and providing ongoing guidance on tax compliance and governance.

Nathan Wright, Tax Principal, Baker Tilly

Nathan has practiced public accounting since 2007. He provides individual, trust, gift, and estate tax compliance and consulting services for entrepreneurs, executives, and individuals. Nathan also provides international tax compliance services to US individuals living abroad, foreign nationals living in the United States, and closely held international businesses.

Nathan is both a Certified Public Accountant and a CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ practitioner. Prior to joining the firm, he spent 10 years at a Big Four firm.

Credits and Other Info

This program will be submitted for approval for approximately 5 hours of continuing education credits by the State Bar of California & CFP® Board. Certificates will be made available following program attendance.