Martin Zelner

Martin Zelner is a retired attorney whose practice focused on estate planning and the administration of trusts and estates. Over the course of his more than thirty-five-year career, he advised clients on estate dispositions, developed estate plans, and drafted the legal documents necessary to implement them. He had substantial experience in wealth transfer strategies designed to minimize estate and gift taxes, business succession planning, asset protection strategies, the formation and operation of private foundations, and the negotiation and drafting of prenuptial agreements.

Mr. Zelner also had extensive experience in the administration of trusts and estates. He represented the estates of executives, entertainment figures, and owners of closely held businesses, addressing complex valuation issues involving works of art, copyrights, and closely held businesses. He also advised trustees on trust administration and served as a trustee of lifetime and testamentary trusts.

Mr. Zelner graduated from Harvard Law School. He subsequently joined Parker Chapin Flattau & Klimpl LLP, now known as Troutman Sanders LLP, where he became a partner and served as administrative partner of the Trusts and Estates Department.

Throughout his career, Mr. Zelner was an active member of the Tax Section of the American Bar Association (ABA). He served on its Estate and Gift Tax Committee and chaired its Subcommittee on Estate and Gift Tax Reform. He drafted the ABA's testimony to Congress on the Economic Recovery Tax Act of 1981, which introduced significant changes to estate and gift tax laws. He also chaired the ABA Task Force on the Generation-Skipping Transfer Tax.

Mr. Zelner was a member of the New York State Bar Association and its Tax, Trusts and Estates, and Elder Law Sections. His professional affiliations also included the Association of the Bar of the City of New York, the Estate Planning Council of New York City, and the Harvard Club of New York City. He received the highest rating for professional skill and legal ethics from Martindale-Hubbell.

Mr. Zelner lectured extensively on estate planning, addressing professional organizations and conferences, including the Practising Law Institute, the New York University Tax Institute, the New York University Estate Planning Conference, the New York Law Journal Seminar Press, and the New York State Society of Certified Public Accountants. He also spoke to nonprofessional organizations, including the Metropolitan President's Organization, the Young Presidents' Organization, and B'nai B'rith.

Mr. Zelner was admitted to practice law in New York and before the U.S. District Courts for the Eastern and Southern Districts of New York and the United States Tax Court.