Overview

Cameron helps individuals, families and family businesses implement a variety of tax and estate planning strategies to protect their property and transfer it from one generation to the next.

Cameron has 25 years of experience in tax and succession planning for high net worth individuals and privately held businesses. He was elected as a fellow of the American College of Trust and Estate Counsel (ACTEC) in 2010 and is currently ACTEC’s Minnesota State Chair. Cameron’s clients include family businesses and their owners, public company executives, private equity and hedge fund principals, family offices and private foundations. He also assists individual and corporate fiduciaries with the administration of estates and trusts.

Services

Experience

Estate Tax Planning

  • Cameron helps clients to ensure that the terms of their testamentary documents minimize estate and generation-skipping tax.
  • He also helps clients to use and leverage their available transfer tax exemptions during their lives with irrevocable trusts, family partnerships and limited liability companies, business recapitalizations, and other strategies.
  • Cameron has helped many clients modify or reform irrevocable trusts by court order, private agreements, merger or decanting distribution to avoid unnecessary taxes and other negative consequences.

Antenuptial (Premarital) Agreements

  • Cameron has represented business owners, inheritors of family wealth, and public company executives in the drafting and negotiation of antenuptial agreements to protect their assets in the event of a divorce.
  • He has also represented many clients in negotiating changes to antenuptial agreements proposed by their prospective spouses.
  • Regardless of the side of the negotiation on which he finds himself, Cameron works hard to be sure the agreement is fair to both sides without causing undue expense and stress.

Trust and Estate Administration

  • Cameron helps individual and corporate trustees and personal representatives with the administration and distribution of trusts and estates.
  • He has extensive experience in probate court, but is usually able to facilitate the administration of a trust or estate with little or no court involvement.

Family Business Succession

  • Cameron enjoys working as part of a team of advisors to facilitate the transfer of a family business from one generation to the next in a tax-efficient manner and with minimum disruption to the business.
  • He focuses on strategies that will be fair to all family members and will minimize the risk of disputes regarding ownership and operation of the business.

Probate and Trust Disputes

  • Cameron helps resolve disputes among beneficiaries and fiduciaries regarding the administration and distribution of trusts and estates.
  • In cases that cannot be resolved by negotiation, he works together with the trial lawyers of the firm’s Trust & Estates Litigation group to represent his clients in court proceedings.

Tax Compliance and Controversies

  • Cameron supervises the preparation of state and federal gift, estate and fiduciary income tax returns.
  • He also represents taxpayers and fiduciaries in the defense of tax audits.

Charitable Giving

  • Cameron assists clients with the establishment and operation of private family foundations.
  • He also advises clients regarding a variety of charitable giving strategies, including restricted charitable gifts, donor advised funds, charitable remainder trusts and charitable lead trusts.

Credentials

Education

  • University of Minnesota Law School, Juris Doctor, 1998, cum laude
  • University of Minnesota Duluth, Bachelor of Arts, 1995, magna cum laude
  • Marquette University Study Center at La Universidad Complutense de Madrid, study abroad program, 1993

Admissions

  • Minnesota, 1998
  • U.S. District Court for the District of Minnesota, 1998

Recognition

  • Lawyer of the Year in Minneapolis for Trusts and Estates, Best Lawyers, 2019, 2024
  • Best Lawyers in America, Trusts and Estates, 2018-2024
  • Minnesota Super Lawyers, Estate Planning & Probate, 2023
  • Chambers High Net Worth Guide, Private Wealth Law, Minnesota, 2018-2023
  • Martindale-Hubbell AV® Peer Review Rated

Civic & Professional

Professional Activities

  • Minnesota Bar Association, Probate & Trust Section Council, Legislation Co-Chair, 2018-2022
  • Minnesota Board of Continuing Legal Education, Member, 2008-2014
  • University of Minnesota Law School, Former Adjunct Professor
  • American College of Trust and Estate Counsel, Minnesota State Chair

Community

  • Volunteer Lawyers Network

News & Insights

Publications & Presentations

Articles and Publications

“Succession Planning,” Representing the Ongoing Business, Chapter 11, Minnesota Continuing Legal Education

Co-Editor, “Drafting Wills and Trust Agreements,” Minnesota Continuing Legal Education

Presentations

Cameron is a frequent presenter at continuing legal education seminars. Recent presentations include the following:

“Advising Snowbirds: Minnesota Estate Tax, Fiduciary Income Tax and Residency Update,” Minnesota Society of CPAs Estate & Personal Financial Planning Conference, Crowne Plaza Minneapolis West, June 20, 2023

“Minnesota Legislative Update,” Minnesota State Bar Association Probate and Trust Section Conference, St. Paul, Minnesota, June 10, 2019, October 17, 2020, June 8, 2021 and June 13, 2022

“Large Estate Panel,” Minnesota State Bar Association Probate and Trust Section Conference, St. Paul, Minnesota, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2019, 2021 and 2022

“The Minnesota Taxable Estate – Drafting with the End in Mind,” Minnesota Continuing Legal Education, December 8, 2020

“DING Trusts under Fielding,” Minnesota State Bar Association Probate and Trust Law Section Conference, St. Paul, Minnesota, October 17, 2020

“Brilliant Estate Planning You No Longer Need? Unwinding the Plan Due to Death, Divorce or Desire,” 31st Annual ABA Real Property, Trust and Estate Law National CLE Conference, Boston, Massachusetts, May 10, 2019

“Troubleshooting Irrevocable Trusts – Choosing the Right Tool for the Job: How to Use the Newly Expanded Set of Tools for Changing Irrevocable Trusts to Solve Old Problems Without Creating New Ones,” Minnesota State Bar Association Probate and Trust Section Conference, St. Paul, Minnesota, June 6, 2016

“Trust Decanting,” American College of Trust and Estate Counsel 2015 Great Lakes Regional Meeting, Chicago, Illinois, December 12, 2015

“Drafting in 2015: A Discussion of the Major Revisions to the 7th Edition of the Drafting Wills and Trust Agreements Deskbook,” St. Paul, Minnesota, June 8, 2015

Media Mentions

Quoted in the article, “Minnesota Gift Tax Kicks in Monday,” N. Woltman, St. Paul Pioneer Press, June 28, 2013

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