Ultra-High-Net Worth Planning Forum 2024

Presenters

Benjamin J. DiLorenzo, Esq.

Bressler Amery & Ross PC

Lesley Draper

Corient Private Wealth, LLC, Morristown

Timothy M. Ferges, Esq.

McCarter & English, LLP, Newark

is a Partner in McCarter & English, LLP in the firm’s Newark, New Jersey, and New York City offices, where he concentrates his practice in trust and estate law, including trust and estate litigation, estate planning, and trust and estate administration. Mr. Ferges brings and defends breach of fiduciary duty claims and handles contested accounting proceedings, Will and trust construction matters, and other fiduciary disputes; and represents beneficiaries, individual fiduciaries, and large institutional trust companies as well as charitable and non-profit organizations in those disputes. He also counsels high-net-worth individuals and families in estate planning goals while integrating asset protection and minimizing exposure to income and transfer taxes.

Admitted to practice in New Jersey and New York, and before the United States District Court for the District of New Jersey, Mr. Ferges has been a member of the American Academy of Attorney—CPAs and the American Bar Association Section of Real Property, Trust and Estate Law, where he has served as Vice Chair of a committee in the Trust & Estates Litigation Group. He is a member of the Mid-Atlantic Fellows Institute of the American College of Trust & Estate Counsel (ACTEC) and the New Jersey State Bar Association Real Property, Trust and Estate Law Section and the New York State Bar Association’s Trusts and Estates Law Section, where he has served on the Estate Litigation Committee. In addition to being an attorney, he is also a Certified Public Accountant and a member of the Board of Trustees of the Springpoint Senior Living Foundation.

Mr. Ferges has lectured for ICLE, the National Business Institute and other organizations, and his articles have appeared in the New Jersey Law Journal and other publications. He is the recipient of several honors.

Mr. Ferges received his B.S. from Rutgers University; his M.B.A. from Rutgers Business School; his J.D. from Seton Hall University School of Law, where he served as Director of the Appellate Advocacy Moot Court Board and as a member of the Interscholastic Moot Court Board; and his LL.M. in Taxation from New York University School of Law. He was Law Clerk to the Honorable Walter Koprowski, Jr. and the Honorable Renee Jones Weeks, Probate Part, Chancery Division, Superior Court of New Jersey.
(8/23)

Hubert Klein

Eisneramper, LLP, Iselin

Joy Matak, Esq.

Avelino Law, LLP, Florham Park

William S. Oakes, CFP

Acorn Financial Services, Livingston

Shaune Scutellaro, CPA

CohnReznick LLP, Parsippany

Damian C. Shammas, Esq.

Law Offices Of Damian Christian Shammas, LLC

Mark H. Sobel, Esq.

Greenbaum Rowe Smith & Davis LLP, Roseland

Certified as a Matrimonial Law Attorney by the Supreme Court of New Jersey, is Co-Managing Partner of Greenbaum, Rowe, Smith & Davis LLP in Short Hills, New Jersey, where he is also Chair of the Family Law Practice Group. He concentrates his practice in litigation, primarily in family law matters.

Mr. Sobel is Past Chair of the Executive Committee of the New Jersey State Bar Association Family Law Section and has served as Chair of the Alimony and Child Support Sub-Committee. He has been a member of the New Jersey Supreme Court Committee on General Practices and Procedures and the Supreme Court’s Special Committee to Revise Matrimonial Law. He was also a member of the Essex County Bar Association Judicial Appointments Committee and for two years ran the Early Settlement Program for mediation of Family Court matters in Essex County.

Mr. Sobel is Editor in Chief Emeritus of the New Jersey Family Lawyer and has lectured on legal topics for ICLE and the New Jersey State Bar Association and its annual convention. He is the author of several articles on family law topics and in 2009 received the Tischler Award from the New Jersey State Bar Association Family Law Section.

Mr. Sobel received his B.A., with distinction, from George Washington University, where he was elected to Phi Beta Kappa, Phi Sigma Alpha and Phi Eta Sigma. He received his law degree from the University of Pennsylvania, where he was a member of the Moot Court Board.

Thomas A. Tietz, Esq.

Shenkman Law, PC, Fort Lee

Stacey M. Valentine, Esq.

Avelino Law, LLP, Florham Park

is a Partner in Avelino Law, LLP with offices in Summit, New Jersey, and New York City, and co-leads the Trusts and Estates Practice Group. With a practice encompassing all aspects of trusts and estates law, she handles income, estate, inheritance, gift, and generation-skipping transfer tax issues, and helps clients maximize the benefits of charitable giving. Ms. Valentine assists estate and trust beneficiaries and fiduciaries in enforcing their rights and adhering to their obligations in the event of a dispute, and serves as legal counsel to numerous financial institutions and corporate trustees, assisting those entities in the implementation of their fiduciary duty while addressing the risks inherent to the role of executor or trustee. She also advises clients in general corporate matters arising in closely-held family businesses and has experience working with individuals with special needs.

Ms. Valentine is admitted to practice in New Jersey and New York. She is a member of the New Jersey State, New York State and Morris County Bar Associations, and the Board of the Estate Planning Council of Northern New Jersey. She has also sat on the Board of the Women’s Association for the Morristown Medical Center and the Young Professionals Board of Eva’s Village.

Ms. Valentine received her B.A., magna cum laude, from Colgate University and her J.D., cum laude, from Washington & Lee University School of Law.

Crystal West Edwards, Esq., CELA

Porzio Bromberg & Newman, PC, Morristown

Sahri D. Zeger, JD, CPA

CohnReznick LLP, Boston