Alan F. Rothschild, Jr.

Alan Rothschild has practiced estate planning, taxation and general business law with Hatcher Stubbs for over 26 years. In the estate planning area, Alan works with individuals and their advisors to design estate plans that effectively address each family’s unique tax and personal needs. Much of his work in this area focuses on successful strategies for multi-generational wealth succession planning, including the transition of family businesses and family lands to future generations.

Alan also has extensive experience advising clients on the design and implementation of thoughtful and effective charitable gifts – both while the client is in life, through techniques such as private foundations, donor-advised funds, conservation easements and charitable trusts, and at death, through their wills and testamentary trusts.

A substantial part of Alan's practice is dedicated to the formation and on-going representation of tax exempt organizations throughout the southeastern United States. Representative clients include family foundations, community foundations, university-related foundations, and regional non-profits in the areas of social service, cultural arts, education, and conservation.

Probate and estate administration also constitute an important part of Alan’s practice. This includes the representation of individual beneficiaries, executors and trustees, as well as representing corporate fiduciaries in the probate and administration of estates and the ongoing administration of trusts. Alan also has significant experience resolving tax audits, estate disputes and dealing with the challenges of an aging population, including guardianships, conservatorships, and health-care decision making.

In his general business and tax practice, Alan works closely with other lawyers and paralegals at Hatcher Stubbs in counseling West Georgia and East Alabama businesses and health care organizations on general operational matters, including entity selection, tax compliance, acquisitions and sales, employment and contract matters.

Outside of his law practice, Alan is past Chair of both the State Bar of Georgia’s Fiduciary Law Section and the American Bar Association’s Section of Real Property, Trust & Estate Law. He lectures and writes frequently on estate planning, charitable giving and legal ethics at programs and in publications sponsored by the American Bar Association, the State Bar of Georgia, University of Miami's Heckerling Estate Planning Institute, Georgia Federal Tax Conference, Internal Revenue Service and various financial institutions and exempt organizations. Alan has served on numerous community and charitable boards throughout his legal career, including The Greater Columbus, Georgia Chamber of Commerce, Columbus State University Foundation, United Way, Columbus Museum, Georgia Museum of Art, Georgia Humanities Council, Georgia Trust for Historic Preservation, Greenlaw, The Mildred Miller Fort Foundation, and The Walter Allen Richards Foundation.

Education

B.A., University of Virginia, 1982
J.D., University of Georgia School of Law, 1985
LL.M., Taxation, Emory University, 1991

Admitted to Practice

Georgia, 1985
United States Tax Court, 2004

Recognitions

The Best Lawyers in America
Georgia Trend's Legal Elite
Georgia Super Lawyers
State Bar of Georgia William B. Spann, Jr. Award for Pro Bono Legal Service

Memberships, Affiliations and Activities

American Bar Association - Section of Real Property Trust & Estate Law (Chair, 2010-2011)
Fellow, American Bar Foundation
Fellow, American College of Trust and Estate Counsel
Fellow, American College of Tax Counsel
State Bar of Georgia – Fiduciary Law Section (Chair, 2006-2007)
Fellow, Georgia Bar Foundation
Georgia Legal Services Program (Board of Directors, 2002-2004)
Georgia Legal Services Foundation (Board of Directors, 2011)
Columbus Inn of Court
Columbus Bar Association, Inc. (President, 1999-2000)
Association of Small Foundations - Tax and Legal Advisory Committee
Panel on The Nonprofit Sector - Form 990-PF Advisory Committee

Civic Activities

University of Georgia Law School Association Council (Member, 2006-present)
Greater Columbus Georgia Chamber of Commerce (Board of Directors, 2004-2009; Executive Committee, 2010-present)
Mildred Miller Fort Foundation, Inc. (Trustee, 1992-present; President, 2004-present)
Walter Allen Richards Foundation (Trustee, 2006-Present)
Georgia Museum of Art (Board of Advisors, 2008-present)
Columbus State University Foundation (Board of Trustees, 1999-Present)
GreenLaw (Board of Directors, 2009-Present)
Green Island Country Club (Board of Directors, 2010-present)
The Columbus Museum, Inc. (Board of Trustees, 1994-2009; President, 1998-2000)
Georgia Trust for Historic Preservation, Inc. (Board of Trustees, 1996-2002; Advisory Board, 2002-present; General Counsel, 1999-2007)
Community Foundation of the Chattahoochee Valley, Inc. (Founding Trustee, 1998-2006; President, 2001-2002, General Counsel, 1998-Present)
Southeastern Council of Foundations (Board of Trustees, 2003-2008)
United Way of Columbus (Board of Directors, 1998-2001)

Recent Presentations and Publications

2012 Council on Foundations, Family Philanthropy Conference – Ethics and Legacy in Family Philanthropy

2012 University of Miami School of Law 46th Heckerling Institute on Estate Planning – What Every Estate Planner Needs to Know About Tax-Exempt Organizations and Charitable Gift Planning; Issues In Connection with Contributions to Individuals by Private Foundations and Individuals
2011 Atlanta Tax Forum – Estate Tax Turmoil: What It Means For Our Clients, What It Means For Our Practices
2011 Fiduciary Law Institute – “Lessons From the Past: How to Maintain a Profitable and Professionally Rewarding Estate Planning Practice in the 21st Century”
2011 Council on Foundations Family Foundations Conference – How Private Foundations and Donor Advised Funds Work Together
2011 Land Trust Alliance – Farm/Forestland Succession and Estate Planning Conservation Easement Tax Law
2011 Fiduciary Law Institute – “Lessons From the Past: How to Maintain a Profitable and Professionally Rewarding Estate Planning Practice in the 21st Century”
2010 7th Annual Nonprofit Law Seminar, Institute of Continuing Legal Education in Georgia – Anatomy of a Charitable Gift
2010 55th Annual Estate Planning Institute, Institute of Continuing Legal Education in Georgia - "Drafting and Defending Conservation Easements"
2010 American College of Trust and Estate Counsel Southeastern Meeting - Lessons From the Past: How to Maintain a Profitable and Professionally Rewarding Estate Planning Practice in the 21st Century

2010 Georgia Society of CPAs – Current Estate Tax Developments
2010 University of Miami School of Law 44th Heckerling Institute on Estate Planning - "Applying What We've Learned"
2009 Land Trust Alliance Southeastern Regional Meeting - "Conservation Easement Update"
2009 University of Miami School of Law 43rd Heckerling Institute on Estate Planning - "If I Knew Then What I Know Now ... Practical Solutions to Recurring Estate Planning Problems"
2008 Association of Small Foundations - Private Foundation Legal Basics
2008 Southeastern Council of Foundations Family Foundation Forum - Private Foundation Legal Update
2007 Internal Revenue Service Estate and Gift Tax Attorneys Continuing Legal Education Program – “Every Day Ethics Dilemmas for the Trust and Estates Practitioner”
Race and Gender Preferences – When Civil Rights Law Meets Tax Law, Taxation of Exempts, (May/June 2007)
Designing and Documenting Charitable Gifts – The Practical Tax Lawyer (Winter 2006)
The Dos and Don’ts of Donor Control, ACTEC Journal (Spring 2005)
How Donors May and May Not Exercise Control of Charitable Gifts, Taxation of Exempts (November/December 2004).
Increased Public Scrutiny of Tax-Exempt Organizations, Estate Planning(November 2004)