Congratulations to Stephanie Moll for her election to the position of treasurer of STEP USA!  Stephanie is a partner in the private client group of Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner and supports primarily the Denver, Boulder, and St. Louis offices.  Her practice focuses on estate planning and administration, particularly wealth transfer tax planning.

STEP USA is the U.S. division of the Society of Trusts and Estates Practitioners, a global organization whose primary purpose is to improve public understanding of the issues families face in relation to inheritance and succession planning and promote education and high professional standards among its members.  STEP USA includes 18 different local branches and chapters around the country.

When a celebrity’s death hits the newswires, it’s often immediately followed by reports of the size of the deceased’s estate and the identity of the beneficiaries.   In addition, not infrequently public battles among the beneficiaries ensue.  Some disputes are the result of the simple (yet, significant) error of dying without an estate plan, as in the Prince estate.  Others provide specific lessons demonstrating the need for attention to detail when creating an estate plan, such as in Tom Petty’s estate.

Tom Petty was a historically-acclaimed singer-songwriter and record producer, who performed as a solo artist and as the lead singer for the Heartbreakers.  Upon his death in October of 2017, his trust directed the trustee, his second wife, to establish an entity to be used to hold and control Petty’s sizable and valuable music catalog.  The terms of the trust ascribing control of the entity provide, as follows:

The Legal Business Awards recently honored Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner LLP with its “Private Client Team of the Year” award for 2019.  The event took place at the Grosvenor House in London on March 28, 2019.

BCLP received the award based on a combination of factors, including:

• the merger of its legacy Berwin Leighton Paisner / Bryan Cave teams into a global private client practice
• the firm’s Middle East work, including the Shari’a advice, and UAE / ADGM work
• its ability to work with clients across the world, with a focus Europe, USA, Middle East, and Asia
• the range of work the firm can cover, from high net worth individuals, to wealth management institutions and family offices
• its Family Asset Protection and divorce practice
• its BCLP Residential practice
• its advice on the treatment of complex Liechtenstein foundations by HMRC
• the firm’s wider Private Wealth offering

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The 7520 rate for March 2019 is 3.2%.

The March 2019 Applicable Federal Interest Rates can be found here.

Beginning this year, estate and gift tax returns have new filing locations, according to the instructions for Form 706 and Form 709.

As of June 30, 2019, estate tax returns (Forms 706) filed using the United States Postal Service are to be sent to:

Department of the Treasury Internal Revenue Service Center Kansas City, MO 64999

However, Forms 706 filed using an approved private delivery service are to be sent to:

Internal Revenue Service 333 W. Pershing Road Kansas City, MO 64108

The same filing addresses also already apply to gift tax returns (Forms 709), effective as of January 1, 2019.

The 7520 rate for December 2018 remains the same at 3.6%.

The December 2018 Applicable Federal Interest Rates can be found here.

The 7520 rate for November 2018 has increased to 3.6%.

The November 2018 Applicable Federal Interest Rates can be found here.

The 7520 rate for September 2018 will remain at 3.4%.

The October 2018 Applicable Federal Interest Rates can be found here.

Private Client Global Elite is the list of the world’s elite lawyers advising ultra-high net worth clients.  Congratulations to Dyke Arboneaux, Marcus Dearle, Martin Paisner and Rupert Ticehurst for being featured as “Elite” this year, and to Simon Goldring, Jessica Henson and Ruben Sinha featured as “Ones to Watch.”

The 7520 rate for September 2018 will remain at 3.4%.

The September 2018 Applicable Federal Interest Rates can be found here