Estate Planning Dinner Highlights Grantor Trusts

By Nereida Gomez

Arthur Sederbaum, Esq., from Patterson, Belknap, Webb & Tyler LLP, discussed the use of grantor trusts at the NYSSCPA Estate Planning Committee's annual fall dinner meeting, held on November 18 at the Yale Club in New York City. Sederbaum examined the planning opportunities and pitfalls in using this strategy.

Grantor trusts have become a popular estate planning technique for many practitioners due to the estate ownerÕs ability to transfer assets on an income tax-free basis while, at the same time, utilizing the transfer as a mechanism to freeze estate tax values.

The Estate Planning Committee, chaired by Alan Kahn (Nassau), has sponsored this popular dinner meeting for the past four years. Members from other Society committees, including Income of Estates and Trusts, Personal Financial Planning, and Employee Benefits, also attend. *