Biography
Michelle Rosenblatt’s practice focuses on U.S. and international tax, estate, business, and wealth preservation planning. Michelle helps clients structure their holdings to benefit the individuals and charitable causes important to them. Helping clients understand the choices available to them to create a plan that achieves their goals while reducing the potential for conflict and minimizing gift, estate and income taxes is a key principle of Michelle’s practice. Her holistic approach involves working closely with her clients’ other advisors to ensure her clients’ plans are respected and properly maintained. Individuals, families, and trustees comprise the bulk of Michelle’s clients.
Michelle advises charitable organizations on formation and governance issues. She also assists family members and professional fiduciaries with the estate and trust administration process after a death has occurred.
Michelle is the Treasurer and a Board Member of KMFA 89.5, Austin’s classical music radio station. From 2015-2018, Michelle was an adjunct professor at the University of Texas at Austin School of Law, where she taught the course, “Financial Methods for Lawyers.”
Education
B.A., with high honors, The University of Texas at Austin
J.D., Pepperdine School of Law
Bar Admissions
California, 2006
Texas, 2007
Michelle’s practice includes:
- Estate, gift, and income tax planning
- Charitable planning
- Inbound and outbound international estate planning
- Preparing Wills and documents to address incapacity (including powers of attorney)
- Preparing revocable and irrevocable trusts
- Preparing premarital, marital, and cohabitation agreements
- Business structuring and succession planning
- Preparing estate and gift tax returns
- Estate and trust administration
- The Best Lawyers in America (Woodward/White Inc.), 2021-2022
- Trusts and Estates, 2021-2022
- “Austin’s Top Attorneys” List – Wills, Estates, and Probate, Austin Monthly, 2021
- Rated AV Preeminent, Martindale-Hubbell
- Texas Rising Star, Super Lawyers – Rising Stars by Thomson Reuters, 2016
- Speaker and Author, “Providing Flexibility In Trust Agreements: Using Trust Protectors, Trust Advisors, Trust Consultants, and Trust Committees,” Texas Bar CLE 25th Annual Estate Planning & Probate Drafting Course, Houston, TX, Oct. 8-9, 2020
- Author, “Drafting & Enforcing Arbitration Clauses in Wills, Trusts & Settlement Agreements,” Texas Tech Estate Planning & Community Property Law Journal, Vol XII, Book I, Fall 2019
- Author, “Drafting & Enforcing Arbitration Clauses in Wills, Trusts & Settlement Agreements,” Journal of National College of Probate Judges (NCPJ), Fall 2019
- Speaker and Author, “Drafting & Enforcing Arbitration Clauses in Wills, Trusts & Settlement Agreements,” West LegalEdCenter, Webinar, Dec. 16, 2019
- Author, “Drafting & Enforcing Arbitration Clauses in Wills, Trusts & Settlement Agreements,” Texas Bar CLE 43rd Annual Advanced Estate Planning & Probate Course, San Antonio, TX, Jun. 2019
- Speaker and Author, “Drafting & Enforcing Arbitration Clauses in Wills, Trusts & Settlement Agreements,” Texas Bar CLE 43rd Annual Advanced Estate Planning & Probate Course, San Antonio, TX, Jun. 2019
- Speaker, “Navigating the World of Contested Probate Proceedings and Fiduciary Litigation: A Guide for Litigators on the Ins and Outs of Probate Court and Fiduciary Litigation,” Austin Bar, Civil Litigation Section CLE, May 21, 2018
- Speaker, “To Be or Not to Be a Grantor Trust,” Austin Tax Study Group, Austin, TX, Mar. 20, 2018
- Speaker, “Fathers, Mothers, Sisters, Brothers and Others: Shower the People You Love with ‘Tangential’ Planning,” ACTEC 2017 Rocky Mountain Regional Meeting, Austin, TX, Sept. 9, 2017
- Speaker, “Asset Protection: Strategies and Recent Developments,” Maxwell Locke & Ritter LLP CPE Program, Austin, TX, Aug. 16, 2017
- Speaker, “Estate Planning Update,” Section of Taxation, 2017 State Bar of Texas Annual Meeting, Dallas, TX, Jun. 22, 2017
- Author and Speaker, “Asset Protection: Strategies and Recent Developments,” Texas Bar CLE 41st Advanced Estate Planning & Probate Course, Houston, TX, Jun. 7-9, 2017
- Co-Author, “A Rose by Any Other Name: Utilizing and Drafting Powers for Trustees, Trust Advisors, and Trust Protectors,” Estate Planning Community Property Law Journal, Spring 2016, Vol. 8, No. 1
- Speaker, “Maximizing Personal Wealth When Planning for a Liquidity Event: Planning Concepts to Maximize Wealth Through Tax Savings,” Maxwell Locke & Ritter LLP CPE Program, Austin, TX, Sept. 16, 2015
- Speaker, “Avoiding Unintended Estate Planning,” Section of Taxation, 2015 State Bar of Texas Annual Meeting, San Antonio, TX, Jun. 19, 2015
- Author, “2014 Form BE-10 Filing Requirements: Deadline for 2014 New Filers Extended to June 30, 2015,” ABA Asset Protection Planning Committee Website, May 2015
- Co-Author, “A Rose by Any Other Name: Utilizing and Drafting Powers for Trustees, Trust Advisors, and Trust Protectors,” The Texas Tax Lawyer, Spring 2015, Vol. 42, No. 2, Part 3
- Co-Author and Co-Speaker, “A Rose by Any Other Name: Utilizing and Drafting Powers for Trustees, Trust Advisors, and Trust Protectors,” Texas Bar CLE 25th Annual Estate Planning & Probate Drafting Course, Houston, TX, Oct. 9, 2014
- Author, “Practical and Tax Considerations of Drafting ILITs,” The Texas Tax Lawyer, Winter 2014, Vol. 41, No. 2
- Author and Speaker, “Practical and Tax Considerations of Drafting ILITs,” Texas Bar CLE 24th Annual Estate Planning & Probate Drafting Course, Houston, TX, Oct. 24, 2013
- Speaker, “Common Decanting Issues,” Austin Tax Study Group, Austin, TX, Feb. 24, 2012
- Co-Author, “Federal Attempts to Close Offshore Tax ‘Loopholes’ — Necessity or Nuisance?,” IMCA’s Investments & Wealth Monitor, Jul./Aug. 2009
- Speaker, “Annual Charitable Update,” San Antonio Estate Planners Council, San Antonio, TX, Jan. 2009
- Speaker, “Common Mistakes in Lifetime and Testamentary Charitable Giving,” Corpus Christi Estate Planning Council, Corpus Christi, TX, Jan. 2009
- Speaker, “Charitable Gift Annuities Best Practices Panel,” Speaker, “Current and Deferred Charitable Gift Annuities,” Practical Planned Giving Conference, Orlando, FL, Sept. 2006
- Speaker, “Circular 230,” Speaker, “Changes in IRS CRT Documents,” Speaker, “Spousal Waivers and CRTs,” Leave a Legacy Conference, Fresno, CA, Mar. 2006
- Speaker, “Flexible Deferred Gift Annuities,” Crescendo Interactive Webcast, Mar. 2006
- Author, “Hidden in the Shadows: The Perilous Use of ADR by the Catholic Church,” Pepperdine Dispute Resolution Journal, Apr. 2005
- Board Member and Treasurer, KMFA 89.5
- Member, American Bar Association
- Member and Former Treasurer (2014-2015), Austin Tax Study Group
- Member, California Bar Association
- Member, College of the State Bar of Texas
- Member, Estate Planning Council of Central Texas
- Member, Section of Real Property, Probate and Trust Law, State Bar of Texas
- Member, Section of Taxation, State Bar of Texas
- Member, Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners (STEP)
- Former Board Member, Austin Bar Association, Estate Planning & Probate Section (2015-2016)
- Former Board Member, Austin Public Library Commission (2014-2016)
- Former Estate and Gift Tax Committee Member, Section of Taxation, State Bar of Texas (2014-2015)
- Former Planning Committee Member, 41st Advanced Estate Planning & Probate Course (2017), Texas Bar CLE
- Former Planning Committee Member, Section of Taxation CLE, 2016 Texas State Bar Annual Meeting
- Former Planning Committee Member, Section of Taxation CLE, 2015 Texas State Bar Annual Meeting
- Former Planning Committee Member, Intermediate Estate Planning & Probate Intermediate Course (2015), Texas Bar CLE
- Former Planning Committee Member, Section of Taxation CLE, 2014 Texas State Bar Annual Meeting
- Planning Committee Member, Section of Taxation CLE, 2017 Texas State Bar Annual Meeting
- Former Planning Committee Member, 24th Annual Estate Planning & Probate Drafting Course (2014), Texas Bar CLE
- Former Trust Decanting Subcommittee Member, Section of Real Estate, Probate and Trust Law, Texas Bar Association (2013)
- Former Inaugural Leadership Academy, Section of Taxation, Texas Bar Association (2012-2013)
- Former Blue Car Committee Secretary, Beverly Hills Bar Association (2006-2007)