Catherine Grevers Schmidt is Chair of the firm's Trusts and Estates Group. She has been with the firm since 1993. Ms. Schmidt focuses her practice on complex estate and tax planning for high net worth individuals and families, entrepreneurs and real estate owners, and on planning for the generation skipping transfer tax. Through use of sophisticated techniques such as Qualified Personal Residence Trusts, Grantor Retained Annuity Trusts, Dynasty Trusts, Intentionally Defective Grantor Trusts and Limited Liability Companies, among others, as well as traditional wills and Revocable Trusts, Ms. Schmidt assists her clients in minimizing the impact of estate and gift taxes on their estate plans, and in transferring family wealth to their children and grandchildren.
Ms. Schmidt also has considerable experience in the administration of large estates and trusts, advising clients on private foundation matters and in representing clients in contested estate and gift tax audits. In addition to numerous audits settled at the initial and appeals level, Ms. Schmidt has also represented clients before the U.S. Tax Court, achieving favorable settlement results and victory at trial.
Ms. Schmidt publishes regularly and is a frequent speaker on estate and gift tax topics for programs sponsored by, among others, the Estate Planning Council of New York, the New York State Bar Association, New York University School of Continuing Legal Education and the New York State Society of Certified Public Accountants. She is frequently cited in publications including Forbes, Kiplinger’s, New York Daily News and The Wall Street Journal, with respect to legal issues in trusts and estates. She is also a regular contributor to the New York Daily News "Money Pros" column.
Ms. Schmidt is a member of the Trusts, Estates and Surrogate's Court Committee of the Association of the Bar of the City of New York and the Committee on Estate Planning for the New York State Bar Association. She has received Martindale-Hubbell’s highest peer-reviewed "AV Preeminent" rating for excellence in the law and ethical conduct, is included on the list of Top Women Lawyers in New York by LexisNexis and Avenue Magazine, and has been selected for inclusion in Martindale Hubbell's Bar Register of Preeminent Women Lawyers.