WASHINGTON, D.C. ESTATE PLANNING COUNCIL

Program Description and Benefits:
This presentation will discuss how DNA test kits are bringing to light one-night stands, extra-marital affairs, egg and sperm donations, and fertility lab mix-ups, and how unexpected twists in the family tree are impacting estate planning.  It will review the inheritance rights of newly-discovered genetic heirs and children born of assisted reproductive technology and changing fiduciary duties for executors and trustees, emphasize needed changes to new client questionnaires and the heightened risk of class gifts, and as well as how tried and true rules of document construction and trust modification can affect a plan gone awry by an unexpected twist in the family tree.

Speaker Biography: 
Sarah Moore Johnson, JD, AEP®, is a founding partner of Birchstone Moore LLC, a boutique law firm focusing on estate planning and estate administration for ultra-high net worth clients in DC, Maryland and Virginia. Ms. Johnson is a leader in the Washington, DC estate planning community, having chaired the Estate Planning Committee of the DC Bar Taxation Section, served on the Steering Committee of the DC Bar Estates, Trust and Probate Law Section, and served as President of the Washington, D.C. Estate Planning Council. She also is an active Fellow of the American College of Trust and Estate Counsel (ACTEC) and has been ranked as a top wealth planning attorney by Chambers and Partners, Best Lawyers, and the Washingtonian magazine. 

Ms. Johnson is a frequent and award-winning speaker on tax and estate planning topics, from the Heckerling Institute on Estate Planning and national meetings of ACTEC and the ABA Taxation and RPTE Sections, to local estate planning councils and regional symposiums across the country. She was recognized by the American Bar Association Taxation Section as a Nolan Fellow in 2008 for her leadership as a young lawyer. Ms. Johnson is a graduate of Wake Forest University and the University of Georgia School of Law. She serves on the Board of Trustees of the Greater Washington Community Foundation.

Logistics:

• Fees: No cost for active members; $75 for guests and emeritus members
• Closest Metro: Metro Center
• Parking is available in the building for a fee.  
• Registration and networking begin at 5 pm and the program begins at 5:20 pm.
• Reception following the presentation
• Guests are warmly welcome when accompanying a member host.
• A no show fee will be assessed to members who register but do not attend without prior cancelation.