WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (Sept. 16, 2015) – Gunster, one of Florida’s oldest and largest full-service business law firms, is pleased to announce that two of its private wealth services attorneys have been selected to participate in the inaugural class of the Florida Fellows Institute of the American College of Trust and Estate Counsel.
The Florida Fellows Institute was created by Florida ACTEC fellows to develop the profession’s future leaders in trust and estate law through a series of in-depth, educational presentations led by subject matter experts from across the U.S.
Cristina Papanikos represents fiduciaries and individuals involved in complicated and disputed estate and trust administrations and guardianships. She received her J.D. from the University of Florida Levin College of Law in 2003. She works in Gunster's Miami office and a member of the firm's Women's Leadership Forum.
Alyse Reiser Comiter focuses her practice on all aspects of estate planning, including drafting wills and revocable trusts, advising on fiduciary matters, assisting with probate and estate administration, and preparing and filing federal estate and gift tax returns. She received her LL.M. in taxation from New York University in 2011, and her J.D. from UF in 2010. She works in Gunster’s West Palm Beach office.
The inaugural Florida Fellows Institute 2015-16 class will include a total of six sessions held in either Tampa or Fort Lauderdale:
- Sept. 18, 2015 – Estate planning, asset protection & business success planning
- Oct. 23, 2015 - Wealth transfer strategies, including charitable planning
- Nov. 20, 2015 - Estate and trust administration
- Feb. 19, 2016 - Estate and trust litigation
- April 1, 2016 - Fiduciary taxation; generation-skipping transfer tax
- May 20, 2016 - Estate and gift tax returns
To participate, attorneys must be nominated by a Florida ACTEC fellow and selected through a competitive application process. There were a total of 33 attorneys selected for the inaugural 2015-16 class.
There are approximately 140 ACTEC fellows in Florida. Gunster’s private wealth services practice, one of the largest in the state, is among the top Florida-only firms with the most ACTEC fellows. ACTEC fellows at Gunster are Debra Boje, Elaine Bucher, Bill Hennessey, John Moran, Tom Karr, Mike Simon. Bucher, a shareholder in Gunster’s West Palm Beach office, is a board member of the Florida Fellows Institute, and Boje, a shareholder in Gunster's Tampa office, is on its Senior Advisory Committee.
# # #
About ACTEC
The American College of Trust and Estate Counsel is a national organization of approximately 2,600 lawyers elected to membership based on demonstrated competence and experience as trust and estate counselors, integrity and commitment to the profession. Fellows are elected by regents of the college after careful review by selection committees. Applications for membership are not accepted. ACTEC members have made significant contributions to the field of trusts and estates law through writing, teaching and bar leadership.
