Katie L. S. Von Kohorn
Partner
Phone
Katie L. S. Von Kohorn is a partner specializing in trusts & estates and exempt organizations. Her practice focuses on estate planning, estate and trust administration, charitable giving, and advising exempt organizations.
Katie advises individual clients and generations of families with respect to estate planning, including estate and gift taxes, probate law, estate and trust administration, inter-generational planning, planning with digital assets, and philanthropy. She also serves as trustee of numerous trusts, and works extensively on the investment, tax, and legal aspects of trusts, as well as with the varied interests of trust beneficiaries. She counsels trustees and exempt organizations on issues pertaining to tax exemption, fiduciary responsibilities, and charitable trust law. Katie is also the Co-Chair of the firm’s Opportunity Committee.
Honors & Awards
Boston Magazine, "Top Lawyers" – Trusts & Estates, 2023-2024
Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly, "Top Women of Law," 2022
The Best Lawyers in America – Trusts & Estates, 2022-2025
Boston Estate Planning Council President's Award, 2022
Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly, "Go-To Trusts & Estates Lawyer,” 2021
- Massachusetts
- New Hampshire
JD, New York University School of Law
AB, magna cum laude, Harvard College
Experience
- Serves as trustee on numerous revocable and irrevocable trusts
- Advises clients on digital asset and crypto-asset planning
- Utilizes life insurance planning to increase assets passing to heirs by over $50 million
- Planning with a laddered series of GRATs to pass assets to heirs tax-free
- Provides advice to trustees, donors, and beneficiaries regarding the use of non-judicial settlement agreements and trust decanting to improve flexibility, discard outdated trust provisions, and fulfill client wishes
- Counsels clients on tax, gift and estate planning for non-citizen spouses
- Provides strategic advice to clients regarding management of family private foundations, donor advised funds, and planned family philanthropy
- Provides strategic advice to clients regarding management of family private foundations, donor advised funds, and planned family philanthropy
- Board Member, Boston Estate Planning Council
- Fellow, American Bar Foundation
- Member, Boston Bar Association, Trusts & Estates section
- Treasurer and Director, Musica Sacra, Cambridge
- Treasurer and Director, Graduate Board, Radcliffe Pitches
- Community Enrichment and Organizational Development Grant Committee, Community Foundation of North Central Massachusetts
Publications
- "4 irrevocable trusts to beat estate tax uncertainty," Financial Planning, 2024
- "Remote Notarization Is A New Virtual Frontier For Mass.," Law360, 2020
- "What You Need to Know About the SECURE Act," MSCPA's News & Resources, 2020
- "New Things to Know for This Tax Season," Next Avenue, 2019
- "6 Things Retirees (and Advisers) Need to Know About the New Guidelines for Cryptocurrency Tax Treatment," MarketWatch, 2019
- "Federal Law Permits Disclosure of Decedent's Emails," Estate Planning Journal, 2018
- "SJC Ruling Could Have Significant Implications for T&E Law," Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly, 2017
- "New Ruling on Trust Decanting in Massachusetts Proves Significant for Divorce Law," Divorce Magazine, 2017
Seminars
- Co-chair and Faculty Member, MCLE Estate Planning Symposium
- Speaker, Strafford’s “Estate Planning with Bitcoin and Cryptocurrency: Structuring Transactions, Tax and Non-Tax Issues, Protecting Assets” Webinar, 2019
