THANK YOU TO OUR ANNUAL SPONSORS!

RSVP cutoff is 5PM Wednesday May 27th, 2026

Space permitting, late registrations may be accommodated through 5pm Monday June 1st, 2026.  Note we make no warranty that late registration will be available for any event. Late registrations shall require both a Late Fee of $25 AND a refundable registration deposit of $25.  Registration deposits are refunded within three business days as long as the registrant attends the meeting.

If your plans change and you can no longer attend, please email [email protected]. Cancellations must be made by 5PM 7 calendar days prior to the date of the event.  Cancellations made after this point (and no shows) will not be issued back the $25 deposit. 

Reservations are on a first come, first served basis. 

Seating is limited.

Free parking behind the restaurant.
On-street metered parking (payment only required until a certain time) 

Member Fee is $0 (+ $25 refundable deposit)
Non-Members are welcome; Non-Member Fee is $110 (+ $25 refundable deposit)

5:00 pm: Registration & Networking (see below for the networking activity)

6:00 pm: Dinner is available

6:15 pm: Opening remarks

6:25 pm: A few words from our sponsor NY Community Trust

6:30 pm: Annual Meeting

7:00 pm: Presentation

8:00 pm: Closing Remarks

8:05 pm: Open networking

8:30 pm: Event Concludes

Networking Activity:

Two Truths & a Pitch 10–15 minutes | Small groups

A professional twist on the classic "Two Truths & a Lie." Each person shares three things — two true and one false — all related to your professional life or practice. The group guesses the lie. It's low-pressure, playful, and a great way to learn interesting details about each other's careers without the feel of a formal introduction.

GST Planning for Trustees of Taxable Trusts: ’One’ is not a Singular Sensation

This lecture provides a practical, practitioner-focused examination of the generation-skipping transfer (GST) tax. Beginning with an overview of how the GST tax is imposed, the program reviews the core mechanics, including the applicable fraction, inclusion ratio, tax rate, and determination of the tax base. Attendees will gain a working understanding of how these concepts interact and drive GST exposure across a variety of transfer scenarios.

The lecture then turns to the design of optimal GST trust structures, focusing on strategies to maximize the effective use of GST exemption and enhance long-term tax efficiency.  Particular attention is given to dividing multigenerational trusts based on differing inclusion ratios, allowing practitioners to isolate exempt and non-exempt portions and preserve favorable tax treatment over time.  Building on that foundation, the program explores targeted techniques to mitigate GST tax in non-exempt trusts, including through the strategic granting of general powers of appointment and discretionary principal distributions. 

Attendees will learn about the importance of drafting for flexibility in an evolving tax and fiduciary landscape and consider the role of independent trustees, the inclusion of decanting authority, and other provisions that allow fiduciaries to respond effectively to changes in law, family circumstances, and tax posture.

Finally, the program examines GST planning through the lens of fiduciary responsibility and analyzes the trustee’s duties of loyalty and prudence, the extent to which a trustee must consider tax optimization, and the circumstances under which judicial intervention—such as trust reformation—may be appropriate. The session concludes with a discussion of best practices for trustee communication with beneficiaries in the context of GST-sensitive planning decisions.

Speaker:

Joseph P. Scorese, Esq.

Joseph P. Scorese is a Member of the Sills Cummis & Gross Tax, Trusts and Estates Practice Group. Mr. Scorese’s primary area of practice is complex estate planning and estate and trust administration for high net worth individuals and families. Mr. Scorese counsels clients in the New York and New Jersey area and helps them design and realize both appropriate and realistic estate planning goals. He then implements those goals with customized drafting solutions utilizing the latest cutting-edge strategies including sophisticated wills, revocable and irrevocable trusts, including irrevocable life insurance trusts (ILITs), charitable remainder trusts (CRATs and CRUTs) and charitable lead trusts (CLATs and CLUTs), family limited partnerships and limited liability companies, qualified personal residence trusts (QPRTs), grantor retained annuity trusts (GRATs) and intentionally-defective grantor trusts (IDGTs). In the complicated area of estate and trust administration, Mr. Scorese readily and regularly engages with fiduciaries and beneficiaries to provide creative tax planning ideas which can help minimize the bite of taxation from income and capital gains taxes, estate tax, gift tax and generation-skipping transfer tax, thereby maximizing the amount of wealth passing to family.  

Mr. Scorese has served as an Adjunct Professor of Law at Rutgers Law School in Newark, New Jersey, and currently serves as the Program Chair of the “Introduction to Trusts & Estates” conference, which is part of the New York University Tax Conferences in July series, where he has lectured on the generation-skipping transfer tax for over two decades. He has also presented various estate planning continuing legal education programs offered through the American Bar Association, New York City Bar Association, New Jersey State Bar Association and other legal and non-legal organizations.

CPA/CFP Continuing Education:

Pending Approval

Cost:

$0 MEMBERS (+ $25 Refundable Deposit)
$110 NON-MEMBERS (+ $25 Refundable Deposit)