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Trusts & Estates

We provide advice and counsel based on our expertise, experience and insight in formulating individual estate plans and administering the estates of family members.

Our Trusts & Estates attorneys work with individuals who need strategic advice regarding the development and implementation of their estate plans.

Our clients want to maximize the value of their estate passing to family members by minimizing taxation and ensuring that their wishes concerning the distribution of assets are heeded. Some clients have complicated family dynamics, while others need to address both business and personal concerns or realize their philanthropic goals.

We work with our clients to minimize the taxation on the transfer of assets (estate, gift, and generation-skipping taxes), preserve family wealth and transfer closely held businesses to younger generations. We also incorporate insurance products into an estate plan, allocate, structure, and coordinate relationships between clients and investment managers of portfolios for trusts and family accounts, and guide the funding of college and post-graduate education for children and grandchildren using tax-efficient options. Our attorneys have an array of estate planning techniques that are specific to the needs of art collectors, artists, musicians and authors.

Following the death of a family member, we guide the survivors through the estate administration process from the probate proceeding to the final distribution. Our expertise in planning for the eventual estate administration and the preparation and filing of estate tax returns, combined with our years of experience in the Surrogate’s Court and with the IRS and state taxing authorities, makes this difficult period manageable for the family. In many cases, we counsel and supervise the administration of trust funds for the surviving spouse, children, and grandchildren. We also advise clients on the best way to use planned giving techniques, family foundations, and charitable trusts to accomplish their philanthropic goals.

Case Study

Trusts & Estates

Rosenbach vs. Sendak

Maurice Sendak (1928-2012) illustrated over 150 books, mostly for children, during his nationally-acclaimed career. 

The Situation

Maurice Sendak (1928-2012) illustrated over 150 books, mostly for children, during his nationally-acclaimed career.  In 2016, Donald A. Hamburg, a Trusts and Estates Partner of the firm, served as both an executor of the Maurice Sendak Estate and a Board member of The Maurice Sendak Foundation.  Sendak’s Will included a provision bequeathing certain “rare edition books” to the Rosenbach Museum and Library in Philadelphia.  The Rosenbach claimed that 340 works of art should have been included in the bequest.  The Estate believed that the claimed works did not fall under the Rosenbach’s bequest and should remain with the Estate, to be housed in a museum in accordance with Sendak’s wishes in the Will.  Notably, among the works at issue were two famous works by the 18th century British author/illustrator, William Blake, Songs of Innocence and Songs of Experience. These two items are extremely rare and of very significant value.  

The Solution

The Rosenbach filed suit in Connecticut Probate Court, and the Executors of the Estate and the Foundation (the “Respondents”) engaged GEABP attorneys Jeffrey T. Golenbock and Elizabeth C. Conway to represent the Respondents in the litigation, which focused on the interpretation of Sendak’s Will and in particular the use of the language “rare edition books”.   The Estate argued that the Court must give meaning to all contract terms and cannot ignore the word “edition” from the phrase “rare edition book.”  As such, the Estate argued each of the 340 claimed works did not fall into the bequest for any number of reasons: it was not a book, was not rare, and/or was not an “edition”, but rather a one-of-a-kind work of art that does not have any “editions”, such as Blake’s Songs of Innocence and Songs of Experience.  In connection with its defense, GEABP engaged a rare book expert to opine on all 340 works of art.

The Result

The three-day trial, Rosenback v. Sendak, was held in the Northern Fairfield County Connecticut Probate Court, during which both sides provided fact and expert testimony concerning the interpretation of the Will, the meaning of “rare edition books”, and how the 340 items fit (or did not fit) within that definition.  Following trial, the court agreed with the arguments made by GEABP on behalf of the Respondents, that you cannot ignore the word “edition” in the bequest of “rare edition books” and the court must apply meaning to that phrase.  The court also agreed that following GEABP’s interpretation of the Will and based on the expert testimony provided, of the 340 items in issue, only 88 were to go to the Rosenbach and that 252 were to be retained by the Estate.  Most notably, neither of the Blakes was included in the bequest to the Rosenbach, and thus would be left to the Foundation.