Holland & Hart LLP

Solutions that Fit
Plenty of law firms feature excellent litigators, great fiduciary and probate practitioners, and outstanding tax lawyers. Few, however, can claim that their lawyers actually practice in all three of these areas, as ours do. Even fewer can match Holland & Hart's experience at the intersection of fiduciary, probate, and tax law and litigation.

Each lawyer in the Fiduciary Solutions Group at Holland & Hart has a background in tax and estate planning and administration. We approach client issues with sophisticated knowledge of the rules and responsibilities that will govern the negotiations and outcomes surrounding any dispute. We use this deep understanding to achieve most favorable outcomes for our clients, whether through proactive solutions, mediation, arbitration, or, when necessary, at trial all the way through the appellate courts.

Honors and Awards
Our lawyers include the President Elect of the National College of Probate Judges, three Fellows of the American College of Trust and Estate Counsel, and a Worth magazine Top 100 Attorney (two years in a row). In addition, our team members are regularly included in The Best Lawyers in America, and Colorado Super Lawyers and Rising Stars.

The recognition is nice, but we find clients value the experience behind the accolades even more. Our team has the knowledge and tools to slice through the noise and conflict of highly charged emotional disputes and identify clean, precise solutions to even the most complex challenges.

Services

Advisory Services: Anticipating Conflicts and Promoting Solutions
We help prevent disputes in part by advising fiduciaries and beneficiaries before conflicts have a chance to arise. Our team counsels clients with regard to issues such as duties to disclose information and the right to request it, interpretation of wills and trusts, and the possibilities of modifying or reforming trusts. We also help clients anticipate, avoid, and resolve complex tax and legal issues that confront fiduciaries and beneficiaries in the challenging and changing world of trust and estate administration.

Litigation
Given the often charged nature of probate, trust, and fiduciary matters, conflicts do occur. Our team is here to help. In matters of probate, trust, and fiduciary litigation, we are as skilled at representing beneficiaries, personal representatives, trustees, agents, and conservators as we are at representing financial institutions, trust companies, and creditors.

• Surcharge and disgorgement
• Breach of fiduciary duty
• Removal and appointment
• Compensation disputes
• Will contests
• Probate of wills that are holographic or lack the required formalities
• Trust and will interpretation
• Accountings
• Elective share rights
• Omitted spouses and children
• Common law marriage
• Apportionment of taxes and expenses
• Petitions for instruction
• Creditor claims
• Trust reformation

Settlements
In addition to handling disputes, we draft, negotiate, and review settlement agreements. We do all of this while proactively planning for the various tax implications of a settlement and reaching tax-efficient results for our clients.

Neutral Services and Alternative Dispute Resolution
Hiring savvy and knowledgeable counsel is a client's top priority. Fiduciary Solutions practitioners know that complete representation requires counsel who also know when not to go to court.

Our group includes experienced ADR practitioners who can serve as neutrals and also guide clients through ADR processes. In addition, our team includes C. Jean Stewart, former Presiding Judge of the Denver Probate Court (16 years). Jean routinely provides services as an arbitrator, judge pro tem, mediator, master, and settlement conference judge in cases involving trust and estate conflicts.

Expert Witness, Expert Consultation, and Litigation Support
Selecting the right expert can dramatically impact the outcome of litigation. Attorneys often seek out members of the Fiduciary Solutions Group to serve as consulting or testifying experts on estate and trust administration, probate and fiduciary law, and related issues.

Holland & Hart's Statement of Commitment to Diversity
We are proud of our tradition of fostering and maintaining a work environment in which the diversity of each individual is valued and celebrated. We believe that the contributions of each individual are essential to our continued growth and to our ultimate goal of providing excellent quality legal services to our clients, with greater creativity and innovation. We are committed to taking full advantage of the rich backgrounds and abilities of our people and to promoting a greater diversity whenever and wherever possible.

Diversity Pledge
Holland & Hart is committed to promoting diversity by:

• Making every possible effort to recruit, hire, retain, and promote diverse persons at all levels of employment.
• Promoting greater sensitivity to the value of racial, ethnic and other forms of diversity, through diversity and sensitivity coaching or training for law firm members.
• Inviting to partnership diverse attorneys who meet the requisite criteria.

Diversity Initiatives
The following are additional examples of our commitment and efforts toward supporting and achieving diversity:

• We make a conscious effort to ensure that women and diverse attorneys are included as voting members of our committees of importance within the firm.
• We work closely with law school deans and placement directors in an effort to identify women and diverse law students who are interested in working at Holland & Hart.
• Holland & Hart offers medical and other benefits to partners of gay and lesbian employees on the same terms as it does to spouses of employees.
• We created an Indian Law Practice Group and actively recruited Native American law students and lateral hires.
• Each year we contribute to such scholarship funds as the Colorado Native American Indian Scholarship Fund, the Sam Cary Scholarship Endowment Fund, the Colorado Asian American Bar Scholarship Fund, the Colorado Hispanic Bar Scholarship Fund, and the Colorado Women's Bar Association Scholarship Fund.
• In partnership with the University of Idaho School of Law, we sponsor a "Law by Day, Jazz by Night" each year for undergraduate minority students who have an interest in law.
• We took a leadership role in organizing and supporting the Colorado Pledge Group's Minority First Year Law Student Summer Clerk Program. Through this program, law firms agreed to add at least one diverse first year law student to their summer clerk program.
• We were involved in the creation of the Cross-Professional Business Networking Group, where diverse attorneys in our community can meet and network with non-attorney professionals of color. We view this as a way to help diverse attorneys increase their business development possibilities.

For more information regarding Holland & Hart's commitment to diversity, please contact Peter Houtsma at (303) 295-8259.