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Akron Bar Association Probate Section undergoes a name change
SHERRY KARABIN
Special to the Legal News
Published: June 26, 2015
Legal experts say the probate and estate planning practice area has been undergoing a transformation in recent years as the baby boomers age and require a variety of specialized legal services.
To represent the changing interests of clients and the current matters handled, last month the Akron Bar Association Probate Section and board of trustees voted to change the name of the former probate section to the estate planning, probate & elder law section.
“The name change reflects the much broader focus of the practice area,” said attorney Linda Chugh Ulinski, who will take the reins as the new section chair on July 1.
“Currently, attorneys who work in this practice area do everything from writing a simple will to handling complicated trusts and guardianship matters, Medicaid and long-term care planning,” said Ulinski, who has been vice-chair since July 2014.
“By changing our name, we are hoping to not only make our existing members feel more welcome but to reach out to attorneys who are starting out or returning to practice after taking some time off.”
The section has 173 members and its meetings are usually held on the third Friday of the month, with the exception of December, July and August. The gatherings include a one-hour CLE (continuing legal education) presentation along with lunch. The section also participates in the Wills for Seniors and Wills for Heroes service projects and hosts the annual Advanced Topics in Probate Law Seminar each year in June.
Section Chair R. Bryan Nace said the section’s executive committee consists of the chair, vice-chair, secretary/treasurer, the immediate past chair and an ex-officio member of the board of trustees.
“The board of trustees appoints an ex-officio liaison member to the section,” said Nace. “Currently that person is Buckingham, Doolittle & Burroughs partner John Hill. He is a voting member of the section.”
Nace said while many of the other sections and committees offer CLEs, “our section presents practical information about how things really work in probate court and in the real world.
“We often have people who have spent time in the trenches as our speakers,” said Nace, a solo practitioner at Nace Law in Fairlawn.
“Judge Stormer and the magistrates of the Summit County Probate Court have been very supportive and have spoken to the section numerous times. This helps the section members greatly in representing their clients and gives the court a chance to get some feedback from the section members.
“There is also a chance for many informal exchanges during the lunch component of our meetings,” said Nace. “The relationships formed can really help when you have a question come up since you know who to call.”
“The probate community is much different than the litigation group in that we have no sworn enemies,” said Ulinski. “We have a very collaborative section and there is a lot of collegiality.”
This year, Summit County Probate Court retired Chief Magistrate Larry Poulos prepared a pig roast for those who attended the June 19 advanced topics meeting. The seminar addressed timely issues like the new Ohio Supreme Court Guardianship rules and provided a case law update.
Poulos, a longtime section member, said things are much different today than we he started practicing in 1973.
“There have been major amendments to guardianship laws and there is now emphasis on non-probate assets like joint survivorship, payable-on-death and transfer-on-death,” said Poulos. “There is also an emphasis on creating trusts.
“When I was magistrate I used to do a three-hour seminar called advanced topics,” said Poulos, now of counsel at Rischitelli & Poulos and at the law firm, Barry M. Ward Co.
“Part of the meeting always included a very nice lunch. After I retired, Judge Elinore Marsh Stormer continued the seminar tradition and I started cooking some of the lunches.”
Poulos said getting involved in the section is not only a good way to stay current on the law, “it allows members to interact with those on the bench, get to know other probate attorneys and participate in the activities of the Akron Bar Association.”
Summit County Probate Court Magistrate George Wertz has also seen the practice area evolve over the years.
“I was the first chair of this section when it was initiated back in the ‘80s,” said Magistrate Wertz, now secretary/treasurer. “The probate section was designed as a liaison between the court and bar and it has definitely fulfilled that role.”
Magistrate Wertz, who will become vice-chair on July 1, said the section meetings have always been well attended.
“With the abolition of Ohio estate tax and the fact that less than one percent of all estates are now required to pay federal estate tax, the issue of tax planning has taken a back seat,” he said. “Our monthly continuing education seminars now focus on a much broader range of topics.
“As our population grows older and suffers some of the disabilities associated with the aging process, issues such as Medicaid planning, surrogate decision makers and long- term health care planning have come into the forefront,” he said.
In Ulinski’s case, the Buffalo, New York native did not start out handling probate matters. After receiving her juris doctor from The University of Toledo College of Law in 1990, she worked in the Stark County Public Defender’s Office and was an associate at a personal injury firm in Cleveland before taking time off to raise her family.
When she resumed her practice in 2002, she focused on estate planning and administration, joining the Akron Bar Association and the former probate section the same year.
“I love my practice and it allows me the flexibility that I need to focus on my family,” she said.
The section meetings address a broad range of issues, which is important because probate law often intersects with many different areas,” said Ulinski, who served as chair of the section about seven years ago. “For example, if you are doing estate planning for a parent who has gone through a bankruptcy or who has a child that is an addict, in prison or has some developmental disability, there are many complex factors that must be considered.”
One addition to the estate planning, probate & elder law section that Ulinski said she hopes to initiate is a membership committee to further put the focus on recruiting and maintaining new members.
Nace joined the section and began attending meetings about 12 years ago when he started his own practice.
“Early in my career I handled a lot of asbestos-related litigation and many of my clients needed advice on how to handle their estate planning because they were ill and some facing death,” said Nace. “When these clients died probate estates needed to be opened for them in order to continue to pursue their cases. This task fell to me and I discovered that I liked the estate planning and probate work so when I started my own office in 2003, I decided to focus in part on estate planning and probate law.”
One of the newer members is incoming secretary/treasurer Rocco Yeargin, who joined the section about five years ago.
“I have always found the meetings very helpful,” said Yeargin, an attorney at Young & Yeargin. “By having judges and magistrates speak at the meetings on a regular basis, we exchange ideas and promote conversation about how lawyers and the probate court can work together to better serve the public.
“As part of the new leadership I plan to continue to foster the positive relationship between the bench and bar.”
To lawyers considering entering this practice area, he said the work is fulfilling.
“It is very satisfying to help people who are around the age of my parents to solve the problems they face as they get older,” said Yeargin.