Insolvent Estates: Managing Creditor Claims, Financial Strategies, and Executor Duties

Dalton Campbell | J.S. Held LLC

Dalton Campbell is a Consultant with J.S. Held, a global consulting firm that combines technical, scientific, financial, and strategic expertise to advise clients seeking to realize value and mitigate risk. He provides expert services by performing financial analyses for all stages of pre-litigation and litigation. He works specifically on matters involving damages determinations, fraud investigations, financial analyses and modeling, and business valuations.

Mr. Campbell has experience with wage and hour disputes, statistical modeling, and survey methodology, implementation, and analyses afforded during his time with the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) where he served as an Economist. He has functional experience with probate law, including multiple stages of case preparation and litigation associated with estate and elder law. He also has experience in business and asset valuation.

Mr. Campbell conducts financial, economic, and strategic analysis to assist parties in complex financial litigation, transactions, and challenges across many industries including insurance, construction, manufacturing, and financial services.

Lauren Barkan | Greenspoon Marder LLP

Lauren Barkan is an associate in the Wills, Trusts and Estates practice group at Greenspoon Marder LLP. Ms. Barkan also has experience in tax and corporate work. In her legal career, Ms. Barkan has reviewed, analyzed, and drafted asset distribution options such as revocable or irrevocable trusts, credit shelter trusts, dynasty trusts, and special needs trusts. She has provided counsel to her clients with documentation such as the Healthcare Advanced Directive, the Durable Power of Attorney, Notice of Preneed Guardian, wills, trusts, family liability partnership agreements, and tax-exempt entities.

In her most recent experience, Ms. Barkan served as Chief Counsel for an estate planning software company where she helped launch software in seven states. She developed thorough estate planning documents that included gifting provisions, GST, and expansive trustee and administration provisions for those seven states, including Florida. Ms. Barkan prepared complex LLCs, charitable trusts, and other instruments as needed. She has also served as a speaker on The Best Times to Discuss Estate Planning, and published blogs on matters such as “Hot Topics in Marital Deductions” and “Why Filing Homestead and a Notice of Preneed Guardian is So Important in Florida.”

Ms. Barkan received a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Rochester. She earned a Juris Doctor degree at the American University Washington College of Law, where she was a member of the Administrative Law Review. Ms. Barkan recently graduated with distinction from the Georgetown University Law Center, achieving a Master of Law degree in Taxation, along with a Certificate in State and Local Tax (S.A.L.T.). She has also been a certified mediator in Palm Beach County.

Session I – Understanding Insolvent Estates: The Nuts and Bolts of Insolvency | 1:00pm – 2:00pm

• Definition of an Estate
  • What does it include?
  • How is managed
  • Discuss assets and what happens in estate plans to protect them
  • Trust protection of assets
  • Probate v. Non probate asset exposure
• Definition of estate insolvency
  • Define how measured
  • What are the tests to determine if insolvent?
  • Key Indicators and red flags
• How to handle an insolvent estate
  • Is there personal liability
• Legal mechanisms for insolvency
  • Probate v. bankruptcy procedures
  • When and how to convert probate matters to bankruptcy cases
• Creditor claims and management
  • Understanding statutory priority rules and claim hierarchy
  • Secured v. non-secured creditors
  • Contested claims and creditor disputes
  • What happens to real property
• Solutions
  • Negotiating techniques with creditors
  • Settlement strategies – ADR
  • Innovative solutions

Break | 2:00pm – 2:10pm

Session II – When Debts Outlive the Deceased: Navigating Insolvent Estates | 2:10pm -3:10pm

• Prevalence of insolvent estates
• Importance of legal and fiduciary awareness
• Legal framework and executor duties
  • State and federal legal requirements
  • Executor responsibilities and renunciation options
• Creditor claims and payment hierarchy
  • Statutory order of debt payments
  • Creditor notification procedures and timelines
• Financial strategies and tools
  • Disclaiming inheritance
  • Bankruptcy considerations
  • Asset liquidation and creditor negotiations
• Case studies
  • 2-3 real case studies will be presented
• Best practices for attorneys
  • Proactive estate planning
  • Documentation and professional collaboration
  • Educating clients on executor risks