Considerations for Non-Professional FiduciariesConsiderations for Non-Professional Fiduciaries

www.shenkmanlaw.com

www.laweasy.com

Martin M. Shenkman, CPA, MBA, PFS, AEP (distinguished), JD, is an attorney in private practice in Fort Lee, New Jersey and New York City. His practice concentrates on estate and tax planning, planning for closely held businesses, estate administration.  

A widely quoted expert on tax matters, Mr. Shenkman is a regular source for numerous financial and business publications, including The Wall Street Journal, Fortune, Money, The New York Times, and others. He has appeared as a tax expert on numerous public and cable television shows including The Today Show, CNN, NBC Evening News, CNBC, MSNBC, CNN-FN, and others. He is a frequent guest on radio talk shows throughout the country and has a regular weekly radio show on Money Matters Financial Network.

Mr. Shenkman is a prolific author, having published 42 books and more than 1,000 articles.

Mr. Shenkman is an editorial board member of CCH (Wolter’s Kluwer) Co-Chair of Professional Advisory Board, CPA Journal, and the Matrimonial Strategist. He has previously served on the editorial board of many other tax, estate and real estate publications.

Mr. Shenkman has received numerous awards, including: The 1994 Probate and Property Excellence in Writing Award; The Alfred C. Clapp Award presented in 2007 by the New Jersey Bar Association and the Institute for Continuing Legal Education for excellence in continuing legal education; Worth Magazine’s Top 100 Attorneys (2008); CPA Magazine Top 50 IRS Tax Practitioners (April/May 2008); The “Editors Choice Award” in 2008 from Practical Estate Planning Magazine for his article “Estate Planning for Clients with Parkinson’s;”  The 2008 “The Best Articles Published by the ABA” award for his article “Integrating Religious Considerations into Estate and Real Estate Planning;” New Jersey Super Lawyers, (2010-16); 2012 recipient of the AICPA Sidney Kess Award for Excellence in Continuing Education for CPAs; 2013 Accredited Estate Planners (Distinguished) award from the National Association of Estate Planning Counsels; Financial Planning Magazine 2012 Pro-Bono Financial Planner of the Year for efforts on behalf of those living with chronic illness and disability;

Mr. Shenkman's book, Estate Planning for People with a Chronic Condition or Disability, was nominated for the 2009 Foreword Magazine Book of the Year Award. He was named the lead of Investment Adviser Magazine's “all-star lineup of tax experts” on its April 2013 cover. On June 2015, he delivered the Hess Memorial Lecture for the New York City Bar Association.

Mr. Shenkman is active in many charitable and community causes and organizations. He founded ChronicIllnessPlanning.org which educates professional advisers on planning for clients with chronic illness and disability and which has been the subject of more than a score of articles. He has written books for the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research, the National Multiple Sclerosis Society and the COPD Foundation. He has also presented more than 60 lectures around the country on this topic for professional organizations, charities and others. More than 50 of the articles he has published have addressed planning for those facing the challenges of chronic illness and disability. Additionally, he is a member of the American Brain Foundation Board, Strategic Planning Committee, and Investment Committee.

Mr. Shenkman received his Bachelor of Science degree from Wharton School, with a concentration in accounting and economics. He received a Masters degree in Business Administration from the University of Michigan, with a concentration in tax and finance. He received his law degree from Fordham University School of Law, and is admitted to the bar in New York, New Jersey and Washington, D.C. He is a Certified Public Accountant in New Jersey, Michigan and New York. He is a registered Investment Adviser in New York and New Jersey.

Gail E. Cohen, Chair of Fiduciary Trust’s Board of Directors and General Trust Counsel, has over 30 years of experience in the area of trusts and estates. She is a member of Fiduciary Trust’s Management and Operating Committees and is also Chair of Fiduciary Trust International of the South. Before joining Fiduciary Trust in 1994, Gail was a trusts and estates associate at the law firm of Debevoise& Plimpton. Previously, she was an associate at the law offices of Edward S. Schlesinger, P.C. Gail is a former Chair of the New York Bankers Association and sits on its investmentcommittee. She has the distinction of having served as the Association’s first woman Chair, as Vice Chair, and as Treasurer. Gail was named one of the “Top 50 Women in Wealth,” selected by AdvisorOne(2010 and 2011) and is a Fellow of the American College of Trust and Estate Counsel (ACTEC). She holds the Distinguished Accredited Estate Planner designation, has been elected intothe NAEPC Estate Planning Hall of Fame, and has been honored by the Trusts and Estates Lawyers Division of the UJA. Gail currently sits on the Investment Committee of the New York City Bar Association and is a former member of that Bar Association’s Committee on Estate and Gift Tax, which she chaired from 1998-2001. She serves on The Rockefeller University Committee on Trust and Estate Gift Plans, the Hospital for Special Surgery Advisory Council, the New York Historical Society Professional Advisory Committee, the Professional Advisory Committee of the Jewish Federation of South Palm Beach County, the Board of Trustees of theBoca Raton Museum of Art, and the Professional Advisory Boards of the Anti-Defamation League in Florida and Jewish Adoption and Family CareOptions (JAFCO). She has also served as an adjunct professor of law at Brooklyn Law School and is a frequent writer and lecturer for attorney groups, including University of Miami’s Heckerling Institute (2014), as well as Practicing Law Institute to the New York State Bar Association and Society ofTrust and Estate Practitioners. She received a Bachelor of Arts degree from Mount Holyoke College and a Juris Doctor degree, summa cum laude, from Brooklyn Law School. She is admitted to the Bars in New York and New Jersey. 

Gerard F. Joyce, Jr. is national head of trust & estates at Fiduciary Trust International. Mr. Joyce, who is based in New York, oversees the firm’s trust and estates strategy and administration in the U.S.