JACKSON AREA ESTATE PLANNING COUNCIL

What is a fiduciary?  Are there multiple fiduciary roles that are important when working with clients?  What are the duties and powers of each type of fiduciary?  Is it better to have an individual or a corporate entity (bank or trust company) serve in a particular fiduciary role?  Who can’t or shouldn’t serve as a fiduciary?  These are the questions that presenters, Chad Perrine with The Huntington National Bank and Steve Makulski with Anderson & Makulski, PC, will address for you at the March 14, 2018 meeting of the Jackson Area Estate Planning Council.  The format of their presentation will be relaxed and will begin with an overview of what is a fiduciary, what are the different types of fiduciaries, and the pros and cons of choosing an individual or corporate fiduciary.  Then they will do every lawyer’s favorite hobby – they will tell you about “war stories” from their experience and why it may have been better for the principal or grantor to have chosen a different fiduciary.  They hope that the presentation will be interactive where others can talk about their own “war stories” and ask questions for general discussion relating to potential situations that members are facing in their practices today.  The presenters are hopeful that all estate planning professionals will join in the discussion, including financial advisors, bankers, and insurance professionals who may have questions about fiduciaries. 

 

Speakers:  Steven E. Makulski is an attorney with Anderson & Makulski, PC.  He practices is the areas of estate planning, estate and trust administration, business law, and real estate law.  He is particularly passionate about estate planning whether it be preparation of a simple will or more complex planning such as drafting Irrevocable Life Insurance Trusts or Grantor Retained Annuity Trusts, and yes although there are fewer instances for the more sophisticated planning due to the increase in the federal estate tax exemption, but there are still instances where it is still needed and warranted.  Steve graduated cum laude from the Thomas M. Cooley Law School and earned his undergraduate degree in Public Administration from Wayne State University.  Steve has spent most of his career working with Jeff Anderson.  Prior to working with Jeff, he interned/clerked for Foote Hospital.  Steve was previously named a Rising Star in the area of estate planning by Thomson Reuters.  He is active in the community and currently serves as President of the Rotary Club of Jackson (whose meeting by the way always conflicts with our meetings).  Steve’s favorite “job”, however, is being a dad to his daughter Kathy.  For fun, Steve enjoys theater and golf and has an admiration or addiction to automobiles – he someday hopes to own a collection of historic vehicles.  His favorites are Cadillacs from the era which are best portrayed in the Godfather movies. 

 

Chad Perrine is an attorney and trust advisor with Huntington Private Bank, which has $18 Billion in assets under management and primarily serves high net worth clients with estate planning and administration, wealth and investment planning, and private banking needs. Upon joining the bank in 2015, he quickly discovered that our country celebrates several holidays that he did not know existed.  Prior to joining the bank, Chad was in private practice, most recently with the law firm of Marcoux Allen where he practiced in the areas of estate planning, estate and trust administration, real estate and business law. Chad graduated cum laude from Thomas M. Cooley Law School and has a bachelor’s degree in economics from Michigan State University.  He was born and raised in Jackson and still resides there with his wife, Angie, and their 3 children, who are all above average.