Insights on Family Office Services

ArentFox Schiff will be hosting the NYCPA Estate Planning Conference, long recognized as one of the premier estate planning programs in the Northeast, on May 21 in New York.

AFS Partner Tracy L. McLaughlin will present on May 5, 2026, at the New York City Bar’s webinar “Ownership of Cooperative Apartments and Condominiums by Trusts: An Overview of Popular Trusts and Obtaining Transfer Approval from Cooperative Boards.”

AFS Partner Tom Abendroth will present at the 45th Annual Kansas City Estate Planning Symposium on April 23, 2026.

AFS Partner Todd Angkatavanich will teach a course on Chapter 14 of the Internal Revenue Code during the first session of Class III of the New England Fellows Institute in Newton, MA, on April 16, 2026.

On March 4, 2025, the US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit in Estate of Kalikow v. Comm’r., 135 AFTR 2d 2025-831 (2d Cir. 2025), upheld the US Tax Court’s prior ruling in Estate of Kalikow v. Comm’r., T.C. Memo. 2023-21, and affirmed that a settlement resolving an undistributed income claim against a Qualified Terminable Interest Property (QTIP) trust in favor of the decedent’s estate did not reduce the value of the assets included in the estate.

AFS Partner Kevin Matz will present during the Business Planning Committee Meeting on March 4 in Tampa, Florida at the ACTEC 2026 Annual Meeting.

Later this year marks the 15th anniversary of the US Securities and Exchange Commission’s adoption of Rule 202(a)(11)(G)-1 under the Investment Advisers Act of 1940 (the Family Office Rule).

AFS Partner Kevin Matz will present at the EPCNYC’s annual Heckerling Review on February 24, 2026, in New York.

Family offices enter 2026 amid structural changes across tax policy, fiduciary law, and regulatory administration. The One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA or OB3) resets key elements of the private wealth landscape, while cautionary tales lurk in marital trust planning and recent Internal Revenue Service (IRS) challenges to grantor retained annuity trusts (GRATs).

AFS partners Tom Abendroth, Todd Angkatavanich, and Kevin Matz will present a panel discussion on February 11. This webinar is sponsored by WealthManagement.com

AFS Partner and ACTEC Fellow Susan Bart, presented on the estate, tax, and wealth planning implications of newly enacted Trump Accounts during ACTEC’s Trust and Estate Talk podcast.

AFS Partners Todd Angkatavanich and Lauren Wolven will present at the 2026 Heckerling Institute on January 13-14, 2026 in Orlando, Florida.

AFS Partners Susan Bart and Kevin Matz were quoted on the emerging gift tax reporting issues tied to new “Trump Accounts,” cautioning that routine family contributions could trigger onerous IRS Form 709 Gift and Generation-Skipping Transfer Tax filing obligations absent a legislative or regulatory fix comparable to the long-standing relief afforded to 529 plans.

AFS partner Kevin Matz and his co-author Shifra Herzberg summarize the IRS’s initial guidance on new “Trump accounts” created under IRC Section 530A to promote children’s long-term savings in his latest article for Wealth Management.

ArentFox Schiff is hosting and sponsoring the 2025 NYSSCPA Private Wealth Conference on December 11th in New York. Speakers include AFS Partners Kevin Matz, Todd Angkatavanich, and Tracy McLaughlin.

AFS Partner Tom Abendroth will co-present in a webinar for the American Bankers Association (ABA) 2025 Wealth Management and Trust Webinar Suite on December 4.

AFS Partner Lauren Wolven will speak at the 2025 Real Property, Probate & Trust Law Section and Business & Corporations Section Seminar on December 4 in Bismarck, North Dakota.

AFS Partner Kevin Matz, provides an overview of New York’s 2025 amendment to NYTL 954(a)(3) in NYSBA’s Trusts and Estates Law Section Journal.

AFS partner Kevin Matz will be speaking at the NYSSCPA’s Queens-Brooklyn In Person Tax Conference on November 10.

AFS Partner Tom Abendroth co-presented in a webinar for the American Bankers Association (ABA) 2025 Wealth Management and Trust Webinar Suite on November 6.

ArentFox Schiff has been awarded 62 top rankings in the 2026 edition of Best Law Firms®, which recognizes firms for professional excellence based on consistently positive ratings from clients and peers.

ArentFox Schiff Partner Tracy McLaughlin, Private Clients, Trusts & Estates, will present on charitable trusts for estate and income tax savings at the NYSSCPA Tax and Financial Planning for Individuals Conference in New York on November 6, 2025.

AFS Partner Tom Abendroth will present at The Associated Jewish Federation of Baltimore’s Planned Giving Roundtable on November 5.

ArentFox Schiff Partners Todd Angkatavanich, Dave Blickenstaff, and Kevin Matz will present at the 51st Annual Notre Dame Tax & Estate Planning Institute.

AFS Partner Brian Janowsky will speak at the 61st Annual Hawaii Tax Institute Conference on November 4, 2025.