Estate & Trust Conference - Portland

Steven Siegel, LLM (Taxation), JD is president of The Siegel Group, which provides consulting services to attorneys, accountants, business owners, family offices and financial planners. Based in Morristown, New Jersey, the Group provides services throughout the United States.

Mr. Siegel is the author of many books, including: The Grantor Trust Answer Book (2018 CCH); The Adviser's Guide to Financial and Estate Planning (AICPA 2020); Federal Fiduciary Income Taxation (Foxmoor 2019); Federal Estate and Gift Tax (Foxmoor 2016)). He is co-author of Income Taxation of Trusts and Estates, (Carolina Press 2020). He is the co-author with Richard Oshins, Esq. of The Anatomy of the Perfect Modern Trust, Estate Planning Magazine, January and February 2016.

In conjunction with numerous tax planning lectures he has delivered for the National Law Foundation, Mr. Siegel has prepared extensive lecture materials on the following subjects: Planning for An Aging Population; Business Entities: Start to Finish; Preparing the Audit-Proof Federal Estate Tax Return; Business Acquisitions: Representing Buyers and Sellers in the Sale of a Business; Dynasty Trusts; Planning with Intentionally-Defective Grantor Trusts, Introduction to Estate Planning; Intermediate-Sized Estate Planning; Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid: Explanation and Planning Strategies; Subchapter S Corporations: Using Trusts as Shareholders; Divorce and Separation: Important Tax Planning Issues; The Portability Election; and many other titles.

Mr. Siegel has delivered hundreds of lectures to thousands of attendees in live venues and via webinars throughout the United States on tax, business and estate planning topics on behalf of numerous organizations, including The Heckerling Institute on Tax Planning, Notre Dame Tax and Estate Planning Institute, CCH, National Law Foundation, AICPA, The Kansas City Estate Planning Symposium, Yale School of Management; U. of Chicago Business School, Western CPE, the National Society of Accountants, Cohn-Reznick, Foxmoor Education, many State Accounting Societies and Estate Planning Councils (including: The California CPA Society, The Southern Nevada Estate Planning Council; the Oregon CPA Society; the Southern Arizona Estate Planning Council; the Georgia CPA Society) as well as on behalf of many private companies.

He is presently serving as an adjunct professor of law in the Graduate Tax Program (LLM) of the University of Alabama (teaching Income Taxation of Trusts and Estates), and has served as an adjunct professor of law at Seton Hall and Rutgers University law schools.

Mr. Siegel holds a bachelor's degree from Georgetown University (magna cum laude, phi beta kappa), a juris doctor from Harvard Law School and an LLM in Taxation from New York University Law School.

(3/10/22)

Steven Siegel, LLM (Taxation), JD is president of The Siegel Group, which provides consulting services to attorneys, accountants, business owners, family offices and financial planners. Based in Morristown, New Jersey, the Group provides services throughout the United States.

Mr. Siegel is the author of many books, including: The Grantor Trust Answer Book (2018 CCH); The Adviser's Guide to Financial and Estate Planning (AICPA 2020); Federal Fiduciary Income Taxation (Foxmoor 2019); Federal Estate and Gift Tax (Foxmoor 2016)). He is co-author of Income Taxation of Trusts and Estates, (Carolina Press 2020). He is the co-author with Richard Oshins, Esq. of The Anatomy of the Perfect Modern Trust, Estate Planning Magazine, January and February 2016.

In conjunction with numerous tax planning lectures he has delivered for the National Law Foundation, Mr. Siegel has prepared extensive lecture materials on the following subjects: Planning for An Aging Population; Business Entities: Start to Finish; Preparing the Audit-Proof Federal Estate Tax Return; Business Acquisitions: Representing Buyers and Sellers in the Sale of a Business; Dynasty Trusts; Planning with Intentionally-Defective Grantor Trusts, Introduction to Estate Planning; Intermediate-Sized Estate Planning; Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid: Explanation and Planning Strategies; Subchapter S Corporations: Using Trusts as Shareholders; Divorce and Separation: Important Tax Planning Issues; The Portability Election; and many other titles.

Mr. Siegel has delivered hundreds of lectures to thousands of attendees in live venues and via webinars throughout the United States on tax, business and estate planning topics on behalf of numerous organizations, including The Heckerling Institute on Tax Planning, Notre Dame Tax and Estate Planning Institute, CCH, National Law Foundation, AICPA, The Kansas City Estate Planning Symposium, Yale School of Management; U. of Chicago Business School, Western CPE, the National Society of Accountants, Cohn-Reznick, Foxmoor Education, many State Accounting Societies and Estate Planning Councils (including: The California CPA Society, The Southern Nevada Estate Planning Council; the Oregon CPA Society; the Southern Arizona Estate Planning Council; the Georgia CPA Society) as well as on behalf of many private companies.

He is presently serving as an adjunct professor of law in the Graduate Tax Program (LLM) of the University of Alabama (teaching Income Taxation of Trusts and Estates), and has served as an adjunct professor of law at Seton Hall and Rutgers University law schools.

Mr. Siegel holds a bachelor's degree from Georgetown University (magna cum laude, phi beta kappa), a juris doctor from Harvard Law School and an LLM in Taxation from New York University Law School.

(3/10/22)

Steven Bell is a Senior Vice President and Wealth Strategist with Ferguson Wellman Capital Management.  In this role, Steve works closely with clients and their advisors to develop customized strategies to advance estate, tax, and philanthropic goals, with a particular focus on the complex tax planning and trust and entity structures to best meet the objectives of ultra high net worth families.  Steve is an active member of the Oregon, Washington, and North Carolina state bars.  Prior to joining Ferguson Wellman, Steve spent 17 years as a practicing attorney focusing his practice on trusts and estates, nonprofit, and business succession planning.  Steve earned his bachelor's degree from Elon University and his J.D. from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and currently volunteers on the gift planning councils for the OSHU Foundation and Dogs for Better Lives.

(6/1/26)

Clint Bentz, CPA, CMA is the founder and managing member of Clint Bentz Consulting, LLC, a family business consulting firm specializing in estate and succession planning for family-owned businesses.  Prior to founding Clint Bentz Consulting in 2018, he worked as a corporate controller and planned giving officer, and then spent 30 years working in public accounting as a CPA at Boldt Carlisle + Smith, becoming a Member of the firm in 1999 and leading the firm's trust and estate group.  Clint also serves as adjunct faculty for Cannon Financial Institute, teaching courses on advising family business owners on succession, fiduciary income tax, estate, gift and generation skipping transfer taxes, and charitable giving, trusts and foundations. His award-winning "Ties to the Land: Your Family Forest Heritage" succession planning curriculum is published in partnership with the OSU Extension Service and the OSU Austin Family Business Program and has been used in 22 states. As a family forest landowner he and his family were recognized as the 2002 National Outstanding Tree Farmers of the Year by the American Forest Foundation.  He is the past chair of the American Forest Foundation and American Tree Farm System and is an OSU Extension Service Master Woodland Manager. He has served on several Oregon Board of Forestry working groups and is a long-standing member and former chair of the OSCPA Forest Products Committee. He helped rewrite Oregon's estate tax statute in 2011 and Oregon's property tax statutes for woodland owners in 2003. He is the chairman of the pastoral council for the Archdiocese of Portland and the music director at Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Church.

(6/2/26)

Susan Bock

Susan Bock is a partner at the law firm Buchalter LLP and formerly of Stoel Rives, LLP. Susan practices in the area of estate and gift planning, business succession planning, income, gift, and GST tax. Susan primarily works with high net worth individuals and focuses on how to transfer wealth and business interests in a tax-efficient manner. Susan is a member of the Estate Planning Council of Portland board, the editor of the  Newsletter for the Oregon State Bar Estate Planning Section, president of the Bryn Mawr Club of Portland, and a contributor to the Practical Law practice management series for both Oregon and Idaho. 

(6/1/26)

John is a principal at REDW Advisors & CPAs. Before joining REDW, he served as managing partner of Grove, Mueller & Swank, P.C., which became REDW's Pacific Northwest office in December 2023. He maintains a broad tax practice serving individuals, corporations, trusts and estates, and tax-exempt organizations.

John is originally from Tennessee. In 1984, he received a Bachelor of Business Administration from Belmont University in Nashville, Tennessee. During the time he attended Belmont, John met and married Mary Rowell, who was a native of Salem. After receiving his accounting degree, John wanted to go to law school.  Mary wanted to go back home. Willamette University was the solution. John received his law degree from Willamette University College of Law in 1987. 

He is a Past-Chair of the Oregon Society of CPAs. He is a member of the American Institute of CPA's and the Oregon State Bar. John is a 2025-2026 member of the AICPA Council.  John was recognized by Forbes Magazine in their list of Best in State CPAs for 2025 and 2026.  He is a past president of the Willamette Valley Estate Planning Council.

(6/1/26)