Ask The Experts
Get answers to your important trusts and estates questions with the help of our experts! Our free "Ask the Experts" feature connects you with knowledgeable professionals who can answer your questions on a wide variety of estate planning, trusts and wealth management topics.
Todd Angkatavanich
Todd is a partner at Withers Bergman LLP. His practice is focused on tax, trusts and estates, and business succession matters for wealthy individuals and their families. He regularly advises domestic and international families and family offices with respect to creating trust and related business structures to preserve, protect and grow family wealth for multiple generations in a tax efficient manner. Todd's has an active practice focusing on wealth planning vehicles including Family Limited Partnerships, Sales to Grantor Trusts, GRATs, Preferred "Freeze" Partnerships, Business Succession Planning, Foreign Grantor Trust planning and Transfer Planning with Fund Carried Interests. He frequently publishes and lectures on these and related topics.
Education: Fairleigh Dickinson University, magna cum laude, B.A. • Rutgers University School of Law, Tax Law Honors, Campbell Scholar • Rutgers Graduate School of Management, M.B.A. • New York University School of Law, Taxation, LL.M.
Admitted: State of NJ, 1993 • State of NY, 1995 • State of CT, 2006 • Registered Foreign Lawyer in the UK, 2007
Bruce Boyd
Bruce Boyd joined Arabella Advisors in early 2007 as a Principal and Managing Director after spending twenty years building and leading for-profit and nonprofit ventures. Arabella Advisors provides strategic counsel to many of the country’s leading philanthropists and since joining Arabella Advisors, Bruce has led engagements with institutional foundations, families and companies. Those engagements have included intergenerational strategic planning and impact assessment with families, development of philanthropy frameworks and strategies for major corporations, and investigation of funding opportunities and evaluation of philanthropic impact for large foundations. Bruce has also written widely about philanthropy, including for the Stanford Social Innovation Review, and has been quoted extensively about philanthropy and the nonprofit sector in publications ranging from the Chronicle of Philanthropy to the Wall Street Journal.
Prior to joining Arabella Advisors, Bruce practiced law for seven years before he and a partner purchased a manufacturing company out of bankruptcy. Bruce returned the business to profitability and sold the company several years later to a Fortune 500 company. Following the sale of the company, Bruce joined The Nature Conservancy where he served for 13 years as Executive Director of the Illinois program while also leading the Conservancy’s Upper Mississippi River Program and four-continent Great Rivers Partnership. Bruce has also provided leadership as a foundation Trustee and Board member of organizations working across the nonprofit spectrum.
Bruce graduated magna cum laude from Middlebury College, earned his law degree from the University of Chicago and studied business at Northwestern’s Kellogg School of Management.
Patrick Boyle
Mr. Boyle was named a Director of Bernstein’s Wealth Management Group in 2005. He joined the firm as a financial advisor in 2000 and became a senior wealth management specialist in 2001. Previously, he was the senior portfolio manager for Meridian Asset Management in Denver. Mr. Boyle earned a BS, summa cum laude, from the University of Denver and received an MS in finance from the Daniels College of Business at the University of Denver. Mr. Boyle is a Chartered Financial Analyst charter holder and a Certified Financial Planner.
Joseph C. Mahon
Joseph C. Mahon is a partner in our Estate Planning and Administration Group. Mr. Mahon advises high net-worth individuals, including corporate executives and business and real estate owners, assisting clients in identifying and implementing their estate planning goals.
Mr. Mahon lectures frequently on estate planning for leading organizations including The New York City Bar, the New Jersey Institute for Continuing Legal Education, the New Jersey Society of Certified Public Accountants, and the Princeton Bar Association. His articles have appeared in Trusts & Estates Magazine, New Jersey Lawyer, Unique Homes, and other prominent publications.
Mr. Mahon has served as a member of the New York City Bar Association’s Committee on Trusts & Estates (1987-1989), and the New York State Bar Association’s Committee on Legislation -- Trusts & Estates Section (1990-1996).
Prior to joining Frankfurt Kurnit, Mr. Mahon was a partner at Cooper Levenson April Niedelman & Wagenheim, P.A., where he oversaw the firm’s trusts & estates practice in the Princeton and Cherry Hill offices. Mr. Mahon started his career with major New York City law firms prior to moving his practice to New Jersey in 1992.
Mr. Mahon is a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania (BA, 1977), Rutgers Law School (JD, 1980), and the New York University School of Law (LL.M in Taxation, 1982). He is admitted to practice in New Jersey, New York and Pennsylvania.
Areas of Expertise:
Estate Planning and Administration
Kevin Matz
Kevin Matz is the managing member of Kevin Matz & Associates PLLC, with offices at 100 Park Avenue in midtown Manhattan and White Plains, New York, where his practice is principally devoted to domestic and international estate and tax planning. Mr. Matz’s practice primarily involves advising high net worth individuals with respect to wealth transfer planning (including for private investment fund managers and real estate entrepreneurs); will and trust drafting; 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.
Bars and Courts
New York State Bar, 1994
New Jersey State Bar, 1994
Clerkships
The Honorable John M. Cannella, US District Court for the Southern District of New York
The Honorable Joanna Seybert, US District Court for the Eastern District of New York
Education
LLM, Taxation, New York University School of Law, 1996
JD, Fordham University School of Law, Notes and Articles Editor, Fordham Law Review, 1993
BS, Herbert H. Lehman College, 1986
Deidre O’Byrne
Deidre is a partner in the New York office of Withers Bergman LLP. She leads the firm's US Family and Business Planning Group. She represents families in a broad range of estate planning and tax matters, including contentious tax issues, business succession planning, and charitable giving. She advises fiduciaries on trust and estate administration and probate. Deidre's practice also involves advising charitable organizations on tax matters and corporate governance.
Education: Columbia University School of Law, JD (Harlan Fiske Stone Scholar)
Yale University, MA
Princeton University, AB, cum laude
John Olivieri
John M. Olivieri's practice focuses on estate planning, business succession planning, charitable giving and asset protection. He advises clients on the many complex tax issues and intra-family concerns involved in the transfer of wealth from one generation to the next, and he assists clients in establishing creative, personally tailored plans for the preservation and transfer of their assets in a tax-efficient manner.
In addition, Mr. Olivieri counsels clients on all aspects of estate and trust administration, including probate, the preparation of estate tax returns, gift tax returns and fiduciary income tax returns, and judicial and non-judicial accountings. He also represents individuals and corporate fiduciaries in litigations related to estate and trust administration such as Will contests, contested accountings, and tax controversy matters.
Mr. Olivieri also works with clients to develop plans for protecting their assets. These plans usually include the utilization of limited partnerships, limited liability companies and so-called "asset protection" and "spendthrift" trusts in various jurisdictions in the United States and around the world.
Prior to joining the firm, Mr. Olivieri was a New York-based partner at a major international law firm.
Bradford Pine
For almost 20 years, Bradford Pine has been fully invested in providing highly personalized financial planning and wealth management services for the affluent investor.
He is a wealth advisor and President of the NYC based "Bradford Pine Wealth Group". BP Wealth Group assists individuals and entrepreneurs to create wealth, simplify their lives and plan for retirement. The Securities in his company are offered through Cantella & Co. Inc., Member FINRA/SIPC which has been in existence since 1952.
Brad's investment team consists of seasoned professionals, all of whom play an integral role in the life planning processes with the goal of providing a personalized approach. Honesty, integrity, and reliability are the pillars upon which this team is built. Individual attention is provided to every client and typically creates a life-long relationship.
Blog: http://www.bradfordpine.com/
Website: http://www.bradfordpinewealth.com/
Barbara E. Shiers
Barbara E. Shiers is a partner and co-Chair of the Estate Planning and Administration Group at Frankfurt Kurnit. She also Chairs the firm's Charitable Organizations Group and serves on the firm’s Management Committee. Ms. Shiers represents high net-worth individuals, professionals, and entrepreneurs in domestic and international estate, gift, and income tax planning, estate and trust administration, IRS audits, and probate and tax litigation. She has extensive experience advising individuals and fiduciaries in sophisticated estate transactions. She also advises public and private charitable organizations in a wide range of matters, including securing tax-exempt status, selecting tax-efficient organizational structures, and developing and negotiating donor agreements. Ms. Shiers’ representation of America Gives Back, Inc., the organization that helped "American Idol" raise more than $75 million for disadvantaged children, was the subject of an article in the Spring 2008 issue of Columbia Law School Magazine. Ms. Shiers is a member of the New York City Bar Association Committee on Non-Profit Organizations, the Estate Planning Council of New York City, Inc., the New York State Bar Association, The Florida Bar, and the American Bar Association. She has also served as a member of the New York City Bar Association's Estate and Gift Taxation Committee (2004-2007) and the Trusts, Estates & Surrogate’s Courts Committee (2001-2004).
Philip T. Tobin
Philip Tobin is Chairman/CEO and Member of the Board of Directors of American Endowment Foundation (AEF). Phil’s experience with Donor Advised Fund Program is one of the longest in the industry, having initiated the Donor Advised Fund program as CFO of The Cleveland Foundation in 1986. Phil co- founded AEF in 1992 as one of the first independent donor advised fund sponsors in the country.
Phil is an author and frequent speaker at national conferences on the subject of Donor Advised Funds and Family Philanthropy.
Founder of the Hudson Community Foundation, Hudson, Ohio.
Former Chief Financial and Administrative Officer of The Cleveland Foundation, one of this country's oldest and most respected philanthropic organizations with nearly $ 2 billion in assets.
Forty-nine years in finance, investment management and information services in with Sperry Rand, General Tire, Oglebay Norton Company and The Cleveland Foundation.
Formerly:
National chairman of the Fiscal and Administrative Officers Group, a committee of the Council on Foundations.
Founding board member of The Investment Fund for Foundations (TIFF) with nearly $ 4 billion in assets.
Graduate of the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.
Linda J. Wank
Linda J. Wank is a partner and co-Chair of the Estate Planning and Administration Group at Frankfurt Kurnit. Her core practice encompasses estate, gift and income tax planning, as well as estate and trust administration and charitable giving. Ms. Wank advises high net worth individuals, including corporate executives, business owners, entrepreneurs and creative talent, and assists clients in identifying and implementing their estate planning goals. She also counsels individuals and fiduciaries in estate settlements, probate litigation and tax audits, and represents public and private charitable organizations. Ms. Wank is a Fellow of The American College of Trusts and Estates Counsel (ACTEC) and First District Delegate of the Trusts and Estates Law Section of the New York State Bar Association. She is also a member of the U.K.-based Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners (STEP), and former Chair of the Trusts and Estates Group of UJA-Federation's Lawyers Division. Ms. Wank writes regularly on a broad range of topics relating to estate planning and administration and is a frequent lecturer at trusts and estates law conferences throughout the country. Most recently, she published an article entitled “Important Revision of EPTL 5-1.4: Extension of Revocatory Effect of Divorce” in the Trusts and Estates Law Section Newsletter of the New York State Bar Association.
By submitting a question, you agree to the Ask The Experts terms of use.
Karen Yates
Karen’s practice encompasses all areas of family wealth planning. She focuses on estate and generation-skipping tax planning, wealth preservation, charitable planning and planned giving, business succession planning, and income tax planning for individuals, estates, trusts and business entities.
Karen also provides legal advice on post-mortem planning, estate and trust administration and probate.
Memberships
- Connecticut Bar Association, Estates and Probate Section and Tax Section
- New York State Bar Association
- American Bar Association, Real Property, Probate and Trust Law Section and Taxation Section
- Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners (STEP)
