FINANCIAL AND ESTATE PLANNING COUNCIL OF METRO DETROIT, INC.

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Note:  Please read attached 2021-11-10 waiver as you will be asked to accept this waiver as part of the registration process.

Presentation Outcomes:

1. Various religious belief systems have different approaches to estate planning issues that can affect how individuals with those belief systems look at eth estate planning process.  Understanding how Christianity, Judaism and Islam view estate planning can help an estate planner to be better prepared for those discussions.
2. Cultural issues can also have a significant impact on estate planning.  As an example, many Asian cultures have distinct views on the role of children, transparency and other issues that can affect the estate planning process.
3. Religious and cultural issues implicate a variety of ethical rules, including competence, diligence, confidentiality and conflicts of interest.

Presenter Biographies:

Margaret G. Lodise has more than 25 years' experience representing beneficiaries and trustees, conservators, individuals and institutional clients in connection with a range of matters pertaining to estate, trust and conservatorship litigation. In addition, she handles estate, trust and conservatorship administration.

Ms. Lodise handles appellate work concerning trusts, estates and conservatorships, and has been appointed by the court as a guardian ad litem in connection with significant matters. Her recent representative matters include successfully defending a trustee from claims of surcharge and improper investments; representing a professional trustee in connection with a dispute over the distribution of a trust; and representing a beneficiary of a disputed family trust, in which the beneficiary prevailed at trial and on the appellate level in having significant assets resulting from the sale of the family business transferred to her.

Actively involved in the legal community, Ms. Lodise is a Fellow of the American College of Trust and Estate Counsel (ACTEC), serves on the Board of Regents and Executive Committee and serves as an ACTEC Ombudsperson.  She is a former Chair of the Trust and Estate Section of the State Bar of California, and is a current member and former President of the Women Lawyers Association of Los Angeles.

Ms. Lodise serves as an expert witness and is frequently called upon to speak on estate and trust-related issues before bar and community organizations, including ACTEC, the Los Angeles and Beverly Hills Bar Associations, the Professional Fiduciary Association of California, the Practicing Law Institute and California CEB. She is an adjunct professor at Loyola Law School.

Ms. Lodise was named Best Lawyers' 2012 Los Angeles Litigation - Trust & Estates "Lawyer of the Year," awarded to individual attorneys with the highest overall peer feedback for a specific practice area and geographic region. Only one attorney is recognized as the "Lawyer of the Year" for each specialty and location. She has been ranked by Chambers and Partners High Net Worth guide in the Private Wealth Disputes category; recognized on the "Top Women Attorneys 2020," "Leaders of Influence: Litigators & Trial Lawyers," and "Who's Who in L.A. Law 2009" lists by Los Angeles Business Journal; and named to the list of Best Lawyers in America® since 2011 and Southern California Super Lawyers since 2005.

After earning a Bachelor's degree cum laude from Pomona College, Ms. Lodise received her law degree in 1988 from the University of California at Los Angeles and her LL.M. in taxation from Loyola Law School in 2002. Prior to joining Sacks Glazier Franklin & Lodise, she was a partner with Ross, Sacks & Glazier, LLP and prior to that she worked at Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe.

Stacy E. Singer is a Senior Vice President, National Practice Leader for Trust Services and Wealth Advisory at The Northern Trust Company, where she works closely with trust professionals on all aspects of the delivery of fiduciary services to clients nationally. She previously served as the National Director of Estate Settlement Services at Northern.  Ms. Singer joined Northern Trust in 2003. 

Ms. Singer was previously a Vice President in the Estate Administration Division at Harris Trust & Savings Bank in Chicago, where she handled the administration of decedent, minors and disabled estates. Prior to Harris, she was a member of the estate and succession planning department at Burke, Warren, MacKay & Serritella, P.C., where she specialized in estate and succession planning strategies, estate and trust administration and guardianship for minors and disabled adults.  She has been appointed as a Guardian ad Litem in both decedent and disabled estates and as a Special Administrator in decedent estates.

Ms. Singer is the past President of the Board of Directors of the Chicago Estate Planning Council and a Fellow of the American College of Trust and Estate Counsel.  She served on the faculty of the American Bankers Association National Trust School for five years, as an adjunct professor in the LLM Program for Tax and Employee Benefits at The John Marshall Law School and is past chair of the Chicago Bar Association Trust Law Committee.  Ms. Singer is a regular speaker for the Illinois Institute of Continuing Legal Education and the American Law Institute (formerly ALI-ABA), and has previously spoken at the Notre Dame Tax & Estate Planning Institute, Heckerling Institute on Estate Planning, the Chicago Estate Planning Council and a broad spectrum of other civic and professional groups, including the Internal Revenue Service. She has written extensive for numerous publications, including Trusts & Estates, Advancing Philanthropy, Estate Planning and numerous IICLE publications.  She holds a B.A., with distinction, from the University of Michigan and received her J.D. from the University of Michigan Law School in 1992. She is a member of the Chicago Bar Association and of the Professional Advisory Committee of the Jewish United Fund of Metropolitan Chicago, the Technion Institute and the Hadley School for the Blind.

Akane R. Suzuki is a partner in the Seattle office of Perkins Coie LLP, a law firm with offices in the United States and Asia. She focuses her practice on sophisticated estate planning, wealth and business succession, and probate and trust administration matters. While keeping the process approachable, Akane helps clients navigate complex legal and tax rules to create efficient and effective estate plans, and regularly speaks and writes about these topics.

Born and raised in Japan, with Japanese as her native language, Akane works with non-U.S. citizens living in the United States and U.S. citizens living abroad who need assistance with inheritance, gifting, or related tax matters. She is a fellow and the Washington State Chair of the American College of Trust and Estate Counsel and a member of the International Academy of Estate and Trust Law. Akane is ranked Band 1 in Chambers High Net Worth Guide and is regularly recognized in peer ratings such as Best Lawyers and Super Lawyers.