Steve Gorin elected into National Association of Estate Planners & Councils Estate Planning Hall of Fame

Thompson Coburn partner Steve Gorin has been elected to the National Association of Estate Planners & Councils (NAEPC) Estate Planning Hall of Fame®. Steve is also a recipient of the Accredited Estate Planner® (Distinguished) designation for 2020. This award was presented on Wednesday, December 2, 2020, by NAEPC leadership during a special virtual election ceremony.

Steve Gorin is one of only seven estate planning professionals to receive this prestigious award in 2020, which is given annually in recognition of lifetime achievement and outstanding contributions to the practice and profession of estate planning within the professional disciplines of accounting, insurance and financial planning, law, philanthropy, trust services and academia.

Steve, a Washington University alumnus (A.B. 1983, J.D. 1986), is a practitioner in the areas of estate planning and the structuring of privately held businesses. Lawyers, accountants and business owners regularly look to Steve for fresh, highly knowledgeable insights into the best possible tax and estate planning approaches to their transactions. In addition to serving Thompson Coburn clients, Steve consults with lawyers and other estate planning professionals throughout the country to help them use advanced tools to help their clients.

Before practicing law, Steve practiced accounting for eight years, was a partner in a CPA firm, and still maintains his CPA license and CGMA designation. He is recognized by The Best Lawyers in America for his work in Business Organizations (including LLCs, and Partnerships) (2018 Lawyer of the Year), Closely Held Companies and Family Business Law, Tax Law (2019 and 2021 Lawyer of the Year) and Trusts and Estates.

Steve is a past chair of the Business Planning Group of committees of the American Bar Association’s Real Property, Probate, Trust & Estate Law Section (RPTE), a past chair of the Business Law Section of the Bar Association of Metropolitan St. Louis and a member of the Business Planning Committee of the American College of Trust and Estate Counsel (ACTEC), including a current Regent of ACTEC, chair of its Employee Benefits Committee and past chair of the Business Planning Committee’s subcommittee on pass-through entities.

Steve led ACTEC’s task force that made comments to the government on IRC §§ 199A (20% deduction for passthrough entities) and 643(f) (multiple trust rules) and led an earlier task force on material participation of trusts in pass-through businesses. Steve has led task forces for RPTE commenting on issues affecting business owners and made personal comments on the transfer for value and reportable policy sale rules that were reflected in final regulations.

For those desiring technical information, Steve publishes a quarterly newsletter, Gorin’s Business Succession Solutions, which includes the latest version of his materials, “Structuring Ownership of Privately-Owned Businesses: Tax and Estate Planning Implications” (over 2,700 pages in a fully searchable PDF), and highlights a few topics. To obtain the PDF and subscribe to the newsletter, both at no charge, go to http://www.thompsoncoburn.com/forms/gorin-newsletter or email Steve at sgorin@thompsoncoburn.com with your complete contact information. Steve also maintains a blog, Business Succession Solutions. The blog is intended for those without a technical background, who would like more information on key business succession or structuring issues that intersect with the tax world. Steve’s blog also includes links to free quarterly continuing education webinars following up on his technical newsletter, as well as occasional other webinars.

Steve was recognized as an Unsung Hero by the St. Louis Jewish Light for leading efforts to redevelop a senior affordable housing community and his support for other charitable causes.

NAEPC President John P. Garniewski, Jr., CPA/PFS, CFP®, AEP®, said “We are honored to elect Steve Gorin as a member of the Estate Planning Hall of Fame® Class of 2020.  Each member has excelled, not only in his or her own professional discipline, but is also recognized as an elite professional by other members of the estate planning community. In addition to Steve Gorin own practice expertise, this honoree shares his knowledge with others nationally through writings and speaking engagements.  We are grateful to him for the exemplary leadership exhibited throughout his career.”

NAEPC is a national organization of professional estate planners and affiliated local estate planning councils dedicated to the cultivation of excellence in estate planning.  NAEPC fosters the multi-disciplinary approach to estate planning by serving estate planning councils and their credentialed members and delivering exceptional resources and unsurpassed education. Furthermore, NAEPC awards and administers the Accredited Estate Planner® (AEP®) designation, the only graduate level, multi-disciplinary specialization in estate planning, obtained in addition to already recognized professional credentials within the various disciplines of estate planning.