Cristine M. Sapers

Cristine Sapers advises high net worth individuals and families on their estate, charitable and income tax planning, helping clients identify and reach their personal planning goals while minimizing taxes along the way. Her clients include executives of public companies, investment fund managers, owners of closely held businesses, family offices and individuals with inherited wealth.

Cristine’s practice covers all areas of estate planning, will and trust drafting, and administration of trusts and estates. Her area of specialty is working with hedge fund managers and principals of private equity firms on estate planning transfers of interests in their investment funds, including their carried interests, using a variety of techniques, including installment sales, GRATs and derivatives.

Cristine also counsels donors on charitable giving and advises private foundations and public charities on tax law, nonprofit corporation law and other matters. She has substantial experience handling IRS gift and estate tax audits as well as negotiating and resolving trust and estate disputes.

A deputy chair of Loeb’s Trusts and Estates department, Cristine serves as editor of the firm’s Family Office newsletter and maintains an active pro bono practice, including drafting wills for low-income veterans.

Cristine’s recent representations include the following:

• Advising private equity fund managers on estate planning transfers of their carried interests in investment funds ranging from $500 million to $9 billion in size.
• Structuring a “net net gift” by a client of an interest in a major league baseball team in order to minimize the gift tax cost of the transfer.
• Advising a client on a gift to a charitable lead annuity trust, funded in part with private placement insurance, to generate an $80 million charitable income tax deduction.
• Advising a client on a gift of stock to a GRAT in anticipation of a potential multibillion-dollar sale of his family company.Advising a family with trust assets in excess of $1 billion on ways to minimize the impact of the New York throwback tax on distributions of accumulated income to New York beneficiaries.
• Advising a New York cultural institution on agreements with donors for gifts and grants, including gifts of interests in private investment funds.
• Representing executors of estates ranging in size from $20 million to $500 million in connection with estate administration, including the preparation of federal and state estate tax returns.
• Representing clients before the IRS in audits of gift and estate tax returns involving GRATs, installment sales and the valuation of privately held assets, including interests in private equity