Estate Closing and Trust Administration in 2026: Frozen Refunds and Fiduciary Discharge

Kelley C. Miller, Partner | Loeb & Loeb LLP

Kelley C. Miller represents clients before the Internal Revenue Service in audits, examinations, and administrative appeals, and in litigation in the federal courts, most notably the U.S. Tax Court. She handles complex estate and gift tax litigation with the IRS, and for nearly two decades she has advised high net worth individuals and families on federal and state tax planning and estate and gift strategies. She practices from Loeb & Loeb’s Tysons office.

• Education & Credentials

Kelley holds an LL.M. in Taxation, with distinction, from Georgetown University Law Center, where she was Senior Executive Editor of The Tax Lawyer. She earned her J.D., cum laude, at Western New England College School of Law, receiving the Dean’s Award for Outstanding Law Graduate, and her B.A., cum laude, at Mount Holyoke College. She also holds a Certificate in Trial Advocacy from the University of San Francisco School of Law. She is admitted in the District of Columbia and New Jersey and before the U.S. Tax Court.

• Recognition & Leadership

Kelley has been recognized by The Best Lawyers in America in Litigation & Controversy—Tax (2025-2027), Trusts & Estates (2025-2027), and Tax Law (2023-2027). She was elected a Fellow of the American College of Tax Counsel in 2022. The American Bar Association’s Section of Taxation gave her the Janet Spragens Pro Bono Award (2020) and the John S. Nolan Fellowship (2010-2011), and Law360 named her among the “14 Influential Women in Tax Law” (2019). Her other honors include Virginia Business’ “100 People to Meet in 2022: Go Getters” and Thompson Reuters’ “Everyday Heroes” award (2016). Within the ABA Section of Taxation, she founded and chaired the Tax Bridge to Practice Program, chaired the National Law Student Tax Challenge Competition, and served as Vice Chair of the Young Lawyers Forum.

• Professional Involvement

Kelley is a member of the Washington, DC Estate Planning Council and the J. Edgar Murdock Inn of Court. She teaches as an adjunct professor at Georgetown University Law Center and Howard University Law Center and serves on the faculty of the Practising Law Institute, and she previously taught at Temple University Beasley School of Law and Western New England College School of Law. She serves on the boards of the Philadelphia Tax Conference and the Center for Work Life Law at UC Law San Francisco, on the Bloomberg BNA Passthrough Entities advisory committee, and on the ABA’s Loretta Collins Argrett Fellows Committee. She formerly sat on Law360’s Tax Authority Federal Advisory Board (2020) and served as Vice Chair of the Young Lawyers Liaison to the ABA Committee on Women in the Profession, and she is an alumna of Lead Virginia (2020), the Women in Law Leadership Academy (2019), and Leadership Philadelphia (2013).

• Experience

Kelley’s controversy work spans every stage of civil tax disputes at the federal and state levels for individuals, partnerships, and corporations, including matters where civil and criminal tax law intersect. In the estate and gift tax area, she litigates complex matters against the IRS, and she has handled high-stakes matters involving disclosure of offshore accounts and of unreported income from digital assets such as cryptocurrency. Her clients include Fortune 500 public companies, privately held businesses, owners of closely held enterprises, family offices, and individuals with inherited wealth, and she counsels private foundations and public charities on compliance and controversy. She has taught tax for more than 15 years and speaks frequently on tax law, tax policy, leadership, and women’s professional development, including at the DC Bar’s Annual Tax Conference (January 7-8, 2026).

Calvin H. Cobb III, Senior Counsel | Loeb & Loeb LLP

Calvin H. Cobb III has spent more than 30 years handling trust and estate administration and trust and estate litigation for high net worth individuals and families, practicing from Loeb & Loeb’s Washington, DC office. He has served as trial counsel in trust and estate disputes and has testified multiple times as an expert witness. His practice also covers estate and tax planning, charitable planning, and business succession.

• Education & Credentials

Calvin earned his J.D. at Georgetown University Law Center, where he was Lead Articles Editor of The Tax Lawyer, and his A.B. at Princeton University. He is admitted to the bars of the District of Columbia, Maryland, and Virginia, and to practice before all DC courts, all Maryland courts, and the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California.

• Recognition & Leadership

Calvin has been recognized by The Best Lawyers in America in Trust & Estate Litigation (2011-2025) and Trusts & Estates (2008-2025). He was named to Virginia Business’ “Legal Elite” list in the Taxes/Estates/Trusts category (2023), selected to Virginia Super Lawyers for Estate Planning & Probate (2007-2008, 2013-2015 and 2017), and listed in Washingtonian’s Best Financial Advisors and Top Estate Attorneys (1995-2017). He holds the “AV Preeminent (5 out of 5)” Professional Rating from Martindale-Hubbell Law Directory. Within the DC Bar, he formerly chaired the Board of Trustees of the Clients’ Security Trust Fund.

• Professional Involvement

Calvin belongs to the DC Bar’s Estates, Trusts and Probate Law Section, where he previously sat on the Steering Committee, and he formerly served on the DC Bar’s Continuing Legal Education Committee. He is also a member of the Maryland State Bar Association’s Estate & Trust Law Section, the California State Bar Association’s Trusts & Estates Law Section, the Lawyer’s Club of Washington, and The Barristers. In the community, he is a founding member of The Bethesda-Chevy Chase High School Foundation, Inc. and a founding board member of The Friends of Westbrook School Foundation, Inc.

• Experience

Calvin’s litigation work includes trying trust and estate disputes as trial counsel and appearing as an expert witness, including in Jacob v. Davis, 182 Md. App. 433, 738 A.2d 904 (1999), cert. denied, 357 Md. 482 (2000). He regularly teaches accredited CLE programs for DC Bar members on subjects that include preventing and litigating will contests in DC, Maryland and Virginia, and estate planning for a senior surviving spouse with a taxable estate who is contemplating remarriage. On the planning side, he advises owners of closely held businesses on estate and tax considerations, with an emphasis on complex structures such as gifts and sales of partnership interests to perpetual defective grantor trusts in exchange for private annuities or notes.

SESSION 1 – Closing an Estate When the Refund and the Closing Letter Are Still Pending | 12:00pm – 1:00pm

This session walks estate practitioners through the practical steps for closing an estate when IRS Form 706 processing remains incomplete, including situations where a refund is frozen, an estate tax closing letter has not yet been issued, or both remain pending. Attorneys will examine the personal liability framework under 31 U.S.C. § 3713 and the procedures available under IRC §§ 2204 and 6905, including the use of IRS Form 5495. The session will also address account transcripts under Notice 2017-12, holdbacks, and partial distributions, with a focus on sequencing distributions to protect the executor while IRS processing continues.

BREAK | 1:00pm – 1:10pm

SESSION 2 – Terminating a Trust While Minimizing Future Trustee Exposure | 1:10pm – 2:10pm

This session focuses on the practical steps trustees and their counsel can take to close a trust while reducing the risk of later claims. Attorneys will examine final and interim accountings, beneficiary notices and releases, nonjudicial settlement agreements, and judicial accounting as tools for bringing trust administration to a close. The session will also address trustee exculpation, indemnification, and other protective provisions, along with the limitations periods and objection windows that can affect the timing of termination. Using D.C., Maryland, and Virginia law as a framework, attendees will learn how to sequence the final account, proposed distributions, releases or settlement agreements, and other closing documents to create a cleaner endpoint for trustee administration.