Complimentary Resources
ACTEC Family Estate Planning Guide
Fellows of The American College of Trust and Estate Counsel, ACTEC, share their expertise to explain the basics of wills, estate planning, and guardianship to families in short video presentations. NAEPC professionals are encouraged to share the ACTEC Family Estate Planning Guide videos with clients. New videos are released monthly. Topics include IRAs and IRA Beneficiaries, What is Probate?, What is Joint Tenancy and When Should I Use It? and more. To learn how to embed these videos on your website visit actec.org/share.
Follow ACTEC on LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube to stay up to date on estate planning information.
ACTEC Family Estate Planning Guide is made possible through support of the ACTEC Foundation. NAEPC is grateful to The American College of Trust and Estate Counsel for offering this valuable benefit to our members.
ACTEC Trust and Estate Talk
The American College of Trust and Estate Counsel, ACTEC, is a professional society of peer-elected trust and estate lawyers in the United States and around the globe. ACTEC Trust and Estate Talk is a free weekly podcast series that offers wealth professionals best practice advice, insights, and commentary on subjects that affect the profession and clients.
Past topics have included What Should Attorneys have in their Engagement Letters, Horton v. Jones Case on Electronic Wills, Qualified Opportunity Funds and Opportunity Zones, The Future is Here: Dealing with Bitcoins and Cryptocurrencies in Tax and Estate Planning, and Security of Clients’ Information. You may listen and subscribe to the series through many popular podcast players:
New podcasts are also announced weekly on LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter.
ACTEC Trust and Estate Talk is made possible through support of the ACTEC Foundation. NAEPC is grateful to The American College of Trust and Estate Counsel for offering this valuable benefit to our members.
HeirSearch
Significant concerns have been expressed over the years by the legal profession and consumers about the percentage fees, or “contingency fees,” charged by some heir locator firms. Many heir locator firms, or “heir hunters,” may use questionable, high-pressure tactics to obtain excessive percentage fees of inheritances. In order to protect their fees, heir hunters often withhold the name of the deceased, and even the amount of the inheritance, until the heir agrees to sign a contract. This means heirs are asked to sign away an unknown amount, sometimes as much as 50% of their total inheritance.
HeirSearch research experts work with executors, administrators, trustees, fiduciaries, bank and trust officers, and their counsel to establish kinship for legal purposes. Since 1967, we’ve used forensic genealogy, an analytical research method, to successfully complete tens of thousands of worldwide searches.
Our five-pillar approach ensures reasonable, non-percentage-based fees, authorized search services, a 97% success rate, documented court-ready reports and worldwide service.
NAEPC members can receive a complimentary copy of the HeirSearch Laminated Consanguinity Chart (showing degrees of relationship by blood) by contacting 1-800-663-2255 or visiting HeirSearch.com/free-chart. The Laminated Consanguinity Chart is a great resource to reference when meeting with clients or to use as an educational tool in seminars.
Visit our website at HeirSearch.com for more information.
09/10/19
James E. Hughes, Jr. Foundation
The James E. Hughes, Jr. Foundation (JEHJF) was formed in April 2020 as a way to extend the lineage of Jay’s life’s work and that of his father, James E. Hughes, Sr., by providing high-quality, vetted articles and books related to the subject of helping families flourish to as many estate planning professionals as possible on a complimentary basis and has teamed up with NAEPC for this purpose.
Sign up for the The James E. Hughes, Jr. Foundation newsletter HERE.
Read our newest hidden gem:
"Engaging the Rising Gen: Practical Advice from Future Family Leaders & Family Office Execs" by Jane Flanagan
Jane and her team interviewed 55 families to learn from their experiences. Readers will find suggestions for proactive steps families can take to ensure that the rising generation is not only prepared but also inspired to take on leadership roles within the family enterprise.
More About James (Jay) E. Hughes, Jr., Esq.
Mr. Hughes, a resident of Aspen, Colorado, is the author of Family Wealth: Keeping It in the Family, and of Family – The Compact Among Generations, both published by Bloomberg Press, and is the co-author with Susan Massenzio and Keith Whitaker of The Cycle of the Gift: Family Wealth and Wisdom, The Voice of the Rising Generation, and Complete Family Wealth, all published by John Wiley & Sons and is a co- author with Hartley Goldstone and Keith Whitaker of Family Trusts: A Guide to Trustees, Beneficiaries, Advisors and Protectors. In addition, he has written numerous articles on family governance and wealth preservation and a series of Reflections which can be found on his website www.jamesehughes.com.
He was the founder of a law partnership in New York City specializing in the representation of private clients throughout the world and is now retired from the active practice of law. Mr. Hughes was a partner of the law firms of Coudert Brothers and Jones Day. He is a current active Fellow of Wise Counsel Research Foundation a Boston based think tank providing qualitative advice to families who seek to avoid the shirt sleeves proverb and to help their families flourish.
He is a member of the Advisory Board of Arlington Partners, the Chair Emeritus and Chair of Distribution and Beneficiary Life Enhancement Committee of Lineage Trust Company, a Fellow of the Family Firm Institute, a member of the Society of Trusts and Estates Practitioners, Founding Member of the Collaboration for Family Flourishing, a Laureate of the Purposeful Planning Institute, Director of the Learning Courage Foundation, Standing Committee Member of the HS2 Foundation, Emeritus Trustee of The Far Brook School, Emeritus Trustee of Prescott College, former Trustee of the Albert and Mary Lasker Foundation, Board Member of the Hemera Foundation, and Board Member of the Robert H N Ho Family Foundation.
He has spoken frequently at numerous international and domestic symposia on the avoidance of the “shirtsleeves to shirtsleeves” proverb and on the dynamic growth of families’ human, intellectual, social, spiritual, and financial capitals toward their families’ flourishing.
He has authored various Forewords to multiple published works on families and their flourishing and has been cited in the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal and various professional journals. He is a member of boards of various private trust companies, an advisor to numerous investment institutions, and a member of a number of private philanthropic boards.
Jay is a graduate of the Far Brook School (Class of 1956) which teaches through the Arts, The Pingry School (Class of 1960), Princeton University (Class of 1964) and The Columbia School of Law (Class of 1967). He is a counselor to the Family Office Exchange and recipient of its Founder’s Award, the recipient of the Private Asset Management Lifetime Achievement Award, the Ackerman Institute Family Partner Award, and the Family Wealth Report Lifetime Achievement Award.
Reprint permission for each piece secured by The James E. Hughes, Jr Foundation.
“The Family Focused Office” authored by Scott Peppet
“The Journey Towards Governance for a Family Enterprise: Aligning Multiple Values and Priorities to Develop Family Capital” authored by Dennis Jaffe
The Blob: How Culture Eats Structure for Breakfast" authored by Matt Wesley
"Building a Thriving and Connected Family of Wealth" authored by Stacy Allred, MST, CFP®, Joan DiFuria, MFT, and Stephen Goldbart, PhD.
"Helping Families Create a Positively Attractive Environment" by Katherine Dean
"Economic Possibilites for Our Grandchildren" by John Maynard Keynes
"The Hidden Truth about Values" by Matthew Wesley
"The Emerging Role of the Chief Learning Officer" by Christian Stewart
07/22/24