Stephanie Seiffert blends her knowledge of trusts and estates law and experience with implementing investment strategies to develop sophisticated estate plans for individuals and their families as well as to provide fiduciary counsel to financial institutions.
My practice is focused on assisting families with the transmission and preservation of wealth for future generations as well as working with corporations and individuals to fulfill their fiduciary duties.
Whether developing a succession plan for a business, drafting a trust for the family cottage or creating an income and estate tax efficient estate plan, I work closely with clients to bring their estate planning goals to fruition. Most recently, I have been decanting antiquated trusts to trusts with provisions that are more compatible with modern tax minimization strategies. Also, I have developed a gifting strategy to assist a high-net-worth client with achieving goals of both a charitable nature and also preserving wealth for future generations of his family.
Being tasked with fiduciary responsibilities requires a disciplined investment strategy as well as an innate ability to develop and maintain relationships with families through multiple generations. With my past experience of being employed by a large financial institution, I have a keen understanding of challenges faced by corporate fiduciaries as well as the interworkings of their trust departments. This experience has been vital to my success in negotiations with corporate fiduciaries and beneficiaries of trusts with the goal of coming to a global resolution.
Despite the complexities involved with estate planning, I find clients crave simplification. To that end, I actively seek to include creative and flexible provisions in my estate planning documents to provide understandable, tax efficient solutions that will be successful both now and in the future.
Rochester Business Journal 2016 Guide to Wealth Management | March 11, 2016
Rochester private clients partner Stephanie Seiffert and associate Kenneth Hunt authored this piece on the importance of families having their children involved in the estate planning process.
University of Miami School of Law, J.D.
College of Wooster, B.A.
New York
Stephanie was selected by her peers for inclusion in The Best Lawyers in America© 2018 in the field of Trusts and Estates.
Stephanie was a recipient of the 2010 “Forty Under 40” award from the Rochester Business Journal in recognition of her civic and professional achievements.
Stephanie is an executive board member, treasurer and chair of the Investment Committee of the YWCA of Rochester, a member of the Women’s Council Board (an affiliate of the Rochester Chamber of Commerce), the 2016 co-chair of the Young Women of Distinction Scholarship Award, a board member of Heritage Christian Services Foundation, a member of the Nominations Committee for Asbury First United Methodist Church, the Executive Committee of the Estate Planning Council of Rochester, the Monroe County Bar Association (Trusts and Estates Committee), and the New York State Bar Association.
