About the Program

According to Benjamin Franklin’s maxim, the two certainties in life are death and taxes.  Although the former cannot be avoided, it is possible to mitigate the latter, even when the client is on his or her deathbed.  This presentation will discuss practical techniques that can be utilized in the final days of a client’s life to take advantage of income tax and transfer tax planning opportunities despite the client’s impending mortality. Using a checklist format, the presenters will focus on the issues attorneys face in this crucial time of a client’s life and how best to prepare for death from a tax planning perspective.

About the Speakers

Aejaz A. Dar is a partner at Yates Campbell LLP, which is a boutique trusts and estates law firm located in Fairfax, Virginia.  He concentrates his practice on estate planning and estate and trust administration matters.  He received his B.A. from the University of Michigan and his J.D. from NYU School of Law.

Ellis Pretlow is Senior Vice President and Senior Estate Administrator at Bessemer Trust. In this role, she is responsible for managing estates for which Bessemer serves as executor or personal representative.

Prior to joining Bessemer, Ellis was a partner at Kaufman & Canoles, P.C. in Norfolk, VA, in the Estate, Trust, and Wealth Transfer Practice Group. She is a member of the Virginia Bar Association’s Wills, Trusts, and Estates Section and its Legislative Committee, as well as a member of the Board of Directors of the Hampton Roads Estate Planning Council. Ellis earned a J.D., magna cum laude, from the Washington and Lee University School of Law and a B.A. from the University of Virginia.