1133 Westchester Ave
Suite S321
White Plains, NY 10604

E-mail: [email protected]
Website: www.walsh-amicucci.com

Scott brings new ideas to estate planning, often for clients who already have an estate plan in place. Many of his clients are elderly or dying (or the children of elderly parents) so the focus is on generation-skipping tax planning; achieving a basis stepup at death; avoiding probate where appropriate; and using discounts to minimize estate tax.

Scott also has considerable experience planning for pension/IRA death benefits.   For example, using those benefits to fund trusts while still achieving a slow, tax-deferred payout of the benefits, or as another example, using the benefits to satisfy charitable bequests without interfering with the payout of the rest of the benefits.

Scott has worked on numerous estate plans and estates involving non-citizen spouses, including severing joint assets under the special gift tax rules that apply.

For families with substantial real estate holdings, Scott has been a pioneer in using a single trust to hold life insurance and to serve as an “intentionally defective grantor trust” purchasing assets at a discounted value.  For more typical suburban families, Scott often can complete the estate plan in two meetings: one meeting to review the family situation and the ownership of the assets, explain the appropriate plan, and a second meeting (after drafts have been sent to the clients for review) to execute the documents.

Associations & Memberships

• Co-chair of Trusts and Estates Section of Westchester County Bar Association (2007-Present)
• President of Hudson Valley Estate Planning Council (1996-1997)
• Chair of Tax Section of Westchester County Bar Association (1994-1996)
• Judicial Screening Committee of Westchester Women’s Bar Association (1992-1995)

Publications

• “Beneficiary Controlled Trusts Gain Acceptance”, New York Law journal February 11. 2008
• “Changing Views on a Spouse’s Inheritance”, New York Law Journal 2007
• “The Probate Process from Start to Finish”, National Business Institute 2006 (co-author)
• “Tax Structuring of Trusts in an Elderlaw Practice”, NYU Tax Institute 2003
• “Administration of the Estate in New York”, National Business Institute 1991 (co-author)