Lee directs her primary attention to the needs of privately held businesses and their owners, where she serves as attorney and trusted adviser on business issues and succession, tax and estate planning.
She cares about her clients like family, personally guiding them through the legal aspects of their unique challenges. Her creativity, centered on the individual client, has produced positive results measured by the impact of her proactive legal advice and in tax savings to her clients.
As a practicing lawyer for more than 20 years, Lee has built a unique arsenal of experiences and contacts that make her an invaluable partner to her clients. She serves on Dinsmore’s Diversity Council, Opinion Committee, and is a former member of this firm’s Board of Directors. Lee is co-chair of the firm’s National Tax Benefits and Wealth group, a National team of attorneys and paralegals.
As a client and friend, Lee offers a multitude of benefits in her representation. She is creative, innovative and practical. The value she provides for her clients is immeasurable.
Richard Graeter
(Lee) is knowledgeable, thoughtful and analytical but she is also very personable. She is serious about her work and good at what she does. She is first-rate in what she does ….
Sources referenced by Chambers HNW Guide for Private Wealth Planning
Fiduciary Services
Lee counsels corporate and individual trustees, providing practical advice on issues that a fiduciary encounters. She advises trust departments of publicly traded financial institutions and individual trustees in the complexities of administering their fiduciary duties, including:
- Exercise of duty to inform and report to beneficiaries,
- Exercise of discretion,
- Obligations relating to principal and income distributions,
- Decanting of trusts into new trusts,
- Trust modification (judicial and non-judicial),
- Non-judicial settlement agreements,
- Division of trusts and combination of trusts,
- Diversification of assets and managing concentrated investment positions,
- Closely held business assets held in trusts,
- Use of directed trusts,
- Trust termination,
- Limiting the trustee’s potential liability, and
- Interpretation and compliance with Prudent Investor Acts and Principal and Income Acts.
When problems arise, Lee assists trustees and beneficiaries in resolving disputes. She is attuned to understanding the core of the problem at issue and first seeking a resolution of the problem outside of the courts. Lee recognizes that often trusts are created to maintain privacy and using a public forum for dispute resolution should be rare. She is experienced in using private non-judicial settlement agreements, trust modifications, and the division of trusts to resolve disputes. When these tactics are unsuccessful and the courts cannot be avoided, Lee works hand-in-hand with Dinsmore’s fiduciary litigation team to provide technical advice on fiduciary matters and develop and implement litigation strategies.
Lee has been named “Lawyer of the Year” in Cincinnati, Ohio for Litigation – Trusts and Estates by The Best Lawyers in America®. She is certified by the Ohio State Bar Association as a specialist in the practice of Estate Planning, Trust and Probate Law and is a fellow with the American College of Trust and Estate Counsel.
Her technical depth, proactive advice and ability to develop and implement practical strategies are what make her an invaluable partner to her fiduciary clients.
