Estate Planning

Minutes: March 5, 1998

Offices of Lehman, Jensen & Donahue

Present: Mark Lehman, Cindy Crass, Earl Tanner, Kent Alderman, Steve Dixon, Tom Christensen, Gary Henrie, Karl Mangum, and Mike Blackburn.

Mark called the meeting to order and proceeded through the following agenda items:

1. Minutes. The Committee approved the minutes from January 8, 1998 as modified.

2. Finances. The Committee approved the Section=s financial statement for the period ending January 31, 1998.

3. CLE. Jon Valentine will present the coming legislative update on March 25, 1998 in a joint meeting with the Tax Section.

4. Legislation. Mark reported the Governor has signed the changes to Article 2 of the Probate Code. Tom is planning to do a breakout session at the annual meeting of the Bar this summer.

As Section Vice Chairman, Cindy will be in charge of the Legislation Committee. She requested suggestions for Committee membership.

Possible topics for future legislative action were mentioned, including:

a. Curative ascertainable standards legislation.
b. Uniform Guardianship and Protective Proceedings Act.
c. Elimination of Utah income tax on trusts whose only nexus is trustee situs in Utah.
d. Changes to the Uniform Principal and Income Act.
e. ACTEC proposals concerning statutes governing trustees. Tom advised that ACTEC is getting close to finishing its proposals which are based on California provisions. He specifically mentioned exceptions to spendthrift clause prohibitions. Some states have statutory exceptions for child support, alimony, and/or tort claims.
f. Topics suggested in earlier Section surveys.

5. Website. Steve reported that the Section=s website was online, although fine tuning is still going on. He solicited articles for posting on the site, although he advised that authors and the Bar had expressed concerns about copyright and appropriate disclaimers that the materials were not giving legal advice. He further requested that the Section secretary e-mail the Section minutes to him for posting at the site.

6. Unauthorized Practice. Mark circulated copies of a recent letter from Katherine Fox, Bar General Counsel, which acknowledged that non-lawyer estate planning is a growing problem in Utah. The Bar=s Unauthorized Practice of Law Committee has two problems, however: 1) limited resources to pursue these types of matter, and 2) lack of a complaining Avictim-client.@ Mark suggested that the Section approach the Consumer Protection Division of the Commerce Department. Many victims of unauthorized practice are elderly which may make it an attractive emphasis for the Attorney General=s Office.

7. 1998-1999 Section Officers. Nominations were invited and will also be invited at upcoming Section luncheons.

There being no further business, the meeting was adjourned.

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Earl D. Tanner, Jr.
Secretary/Treasurer