INTRODUCTION Contributed by: Ivan A. Sacks, Withers
assumptions about family, property and inheritance, as well as traditional, nationally bound legal advice needs. For legal practitioners, this environment demands a broader and more interdisciplinary approach. Advisors must be conversant not only with tax law and trust structures, but also with international conflict-of-laws principles, reproductive technology issues and digital privacy regimes. They must ask clients new types of questions: Where are your digital assets stored? Who can access your online accounts? How should your estate plan address children born through assisted reproductive technologies? Which jurisdiction’s law will govern the taxation of your trust if your family relocates?
As the great wealth transfer accelerates, and as the social and political changes currently in view continue to evolve, succession planning will likely remain an area of dynamic legal development in the years ahead. At the same time, the underlying objectives of succes- sion planning remain constant. Families continue to seek clarity, continuity, efficiency and protection from risk in the transfer of wealth and responsibility from one generation to the next. What is changing is the context in which those objectives must be pursued.
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