My recent presentation at the Chicago ALI-ABA conference on Representing Estate and Trust Beneficiaries and Fiduciaries is available below.

The title of the presentation is “Managing Modest-Sized Family Trust Portfolios: Issues in Income Adequacy and Portfolio Sustainability.” Documents include a PowerPoint slide presentation plus supplemental commentary.

The full title of the paper published in two parts in the February and March, 2011 issues of the Banking Law Journal is: Trustee Asset Management Elections: Portfolio Performance Evaluation and Preferencing Criteria. What on Earth is a preferencing criterion, and why should we care? Patrick discusses the effect that different measures of portfolio behavior can have on portfolio management decisions.

If you are involved in the administration and management of trust-owned assets—either actively or in your capacity as legal counsel the document attached below entitled: “Managing Trust Investments: An Interactive Decision Making Process” may be of interest.

This is a four part series on the administration of life insurance as an asset of trust. It was published in “The American College of Trust and Estate Journal.” ACTEC

Article 1) Trustee Administration of Life Insurance;
Article 2) Standards of Prudence and Management of the Insurance Portfolio;
Artile 3) Evidencing Care, Skill and Caution in The Management of ILITs; and
Article 4) ILIT Asset Management: The Written Investment Policy Statement.

Selecting actively managed investment strategies for all, or a portion, of trust assets can be difficult. Herein we describe the process of identifying superior active managers, and metrics fiduciaries could use to document the prudence of their manager selection process.

Reprinted from the November/December 2005 issue of The Banking Law Journal.
There appears to be an increased expectation that Irrevocable Life Insurance Trust (ILIT) trustees should discharge the duties of their office in a manner that is academically sound, administratively reasonable, and legally defensible. Here, the authors explore when an independent trust company or bank trust department, or other professional trustee, should consider when to replace trust owned life insurance policies.

This article addresses best practice standards for lawyers that work with brokers, investment advisors and financial planners in supporting investments owned through a trust account

This two-part article addresses the fiduciary duties of lawyers acting as co-trustees. Its focus is the monitoring of investments and investment strategies to determine their ongoing prudence and suitability.

What duties does a lawyer/trustee have to develop strategies for the retention and disposition of assets within a reasonable amount of time after accepting a trusteeship?

A summary of the laws governing trustee responsibility for controlling costs.