Trusts and Divorce: Discovering Hidden Trusts, Reaching Trust Assets, Protecting Beneficiary's Interest
A live 90-minute CLE video webinar with interactive Q&A
This CLE course will prepare family law practitioners with best practices to represent divorcing parties who are interested in or seek to claim an interest in a spouse's trust. The panel will review how to answer the critical question of whether the trust is accessible as well as offer drafting methods to mitigate attacks on trust assets, explain how to attack a trust, discuss available remedies, and outline critical evidentiary issues in establishing a party's interest in the trust as a marital asset.
Outline
- Types of trusts
- Drafting trusts to reduce attacks on trust assets
- Discovering trust assets
- Classifying the trust interest as marital property
- Ways to reach trust assets or protect the beneficiary's assets
- Joining the trust or trustee as a party
- Key evidentiary issues
- Remedies
Benefits
The panel will review these and other key issues:
- What are best practices for drafting trusts to protect trust assets in the event of divorce?
- If the parties transfer marital assets to the trust, do those assets lose their character as marital assets, and are they off-limits in divorce?
- What can counsel do to discover a party's interest in a trust?
- What are the methods available to reach a party's interest in the trust and to defend against an attempted attack on the trust?
- What are the critical evidentiary issues in successfully attacking a trust or defending the trust from attack?
Faculty
Marilyn B. Chinitz
Partner
Blank Rome
Ms. Chinitz is a formidable advocate for her clients, guiding them through some of the most challenging... | Read More
Ms. Chinitz is a formidable advocate for her clients, guiding them through some of the most challenging transitions in their lives. She concentrates her practice in matrimonial law, particularly high-net-worth divorce actions. Ms. Chinitz is a skillful negotiator whose numerous high-profile and celebrity cases have received national and international attention. She has more than 35 years of experience in every facet of family law.
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Sean R. Weissbart
Partner
Blank Rome
Mr. Weissbart is Vice Chair of Blank Rome’s Tax, Benefits and Private Client practice group. His practice focuses... | Read More
Mr. Weissbart is Vice Chair of Blank Rome’s Tax, Benefits and Private Client practice group. His practice focuses on all aspects of trusts and estates, including estate planning, estate and trust administration, charitable giving and the creation of tax-exempt organizations, and the representation of fiduciaries and beneficiaries in contested matters in the Surrogate’s Court. Mr. Weissbart’s expertise also includes advising his clients on trusts and estates issues related to matrimonial law, including tax issues incident to divorce. He also represents clients in the preparation and negotiation of prenuptial, postnuptial, and cohabitation agreements. In addition to his practice, Mr. Weissbart serves as an Adjunct Professor of Law at New York University School of Law, where he teaches Income Taxation of Trusts and Estates and International Estate Planning.
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